The Tiger in the Christmas Tree

There’s a tiger

In the Christmas tree

Nobody knows

How it go there

But we’re all too scared

To ask it

To leave

The funny thing

About a fear

Is that

If you leave it there

Soon you’re not very scared

Of it at all

Now the tiger

Purrs and sleeps

While we keep ourselves busy

Wrapping gifts

And drinking nog

The tiger’s even made friends
With Montgomery the Dog

The man at the tree yard swears

That the tiger wasn’t there

When he sold us

The tree

But if you ask me

Something funny’s going on

At Dustin’s Tree Farm and Cider Emporium

The tiger in the Christmas tree

Loves when we sing Christmas carols

And hang popcorn on the Christmas tree

Because the tiger loves popcorn

And ornaments made of gingerbread

Its tail knocks off the star at the top

Every so often

But we don’t mind

Because the star is plastic

And whenever the tiger knocks it down

She gets very quiet

And we can tell

She feels badly about her tail

Which she shouldn’t

Because if you’re born with a tail

You might as well be happy to have it

Even when it knocks down plastic stars

My mother loves feeding the tiger

Her world famous cabbage kabobs

And the tiger gobbles them up

And then growls lightly

So my mother sends my father

Back into the kitchen

To make more of the kabobs

Provided he follows her recipe

To the letter

One day, my uncle came over

And we forgot to tell him

That we had a tiger in the Christmas tree

And so when he went to put

The golf clubs he bought my father

Under the tree

The tiger waved at him

And he screamed

Which startled the tiger

And swish went the tail

And down went the star

And out the door went my uncle

Who refuses to return

Until we take out the tree

But now that we have

A tiger in the Christmas tree

We’re not sure

We’ll ever take down the tree

The tiger seems happy in it

And we have a rule in our family

That once somebody stays at our house

For more than a week

They’re pretty much family

Plus, the rest of us

Don’t love Mom’s cabbage kabobs

So we’re glad there’s somebody else

Who wants them

For dinner

Every night, we sit by the fire

And the tiger

Comes down from the tree

And sits among us

While Dad reads Christmas stories

Like ‘The Tiger Who Saved Christmas’

And ‘Santa’s Favorite Tiger’

Because the tiger in the tree

Seems to like those the best

This year, we’re not getting as many presents

As we have in years past

Because things have been hard at work

For our Mom and Dad

But we have a lot of things

That others do not

Like a tiger in the Christmas tree

And a crocodile on our guest room cot

Did we tell you about the croc?

Well, maybe another time

For now, we’re happy

With the tiger in our tree

And we think the tiger

Is glad to be

In our family

Now if only she would wear

The Santa hat we bought for her

But tigers do

What they like

So Merry Christmas to all

And to all tigers

A good night