By Hunter Reeves

‘Twas the day before Christmas and all through the Zoo
The animals were all playing... laughing with each snowball that they threw

Off galloping and soaring through the leafless brown trees…
And swinging and leap-frogging they growled and yelped with glee

While every so often they’d stop to call names
At one little giraffe not allowed in their wintery games

“Ha ha! Look at Phoebe! Her neck is so long!”
“Covered with fudge spots!” “Tall as a tree!” “And five times the size of me!”

And Phoebe just wept.
What else could she do?

She knew all the things
they were saying true!

Where most necks at the Zoo were quite small and quite plain,
Poor Phoebe’s was long like a giant polka-dotted candy cane

In daylight it could be seen from miles around
Just like a sad Christmas tree, needle-less and spotted brown

At night time she hid in the festive Zoo decorations
But her holiday sadness brought no Christmas celebrations

And putting on her giraffe sized Christmas sweater
To hide her long neck didn’t make anything better.

The animals would all point and snicker,
And boy was she furious when they shouted “Freaky Phoebe” as they nicknamed her

Although she was without holiday joy, she always was good…
Eating all her romaine lettuce, as a good giraffe should.

That’s why on this chilly day Phoebe almost felt playful
She hoped that E.J. the Santa Panda, driving his sleigh full

Of presents a plenty, eggnog for eagles, fish pies for the penguins,
Angel shaped apples for chickens and cockatoos,

Insect flavored fruitcakes for the frogmouths covered in fluff,
Surely her holiday joy was coming, she could almost hear the sleigh bells ringing!

As night, and a snowy Nebraska storm
Hid the Zoo like a hood

She went to bed hopeful;
She knew she’d been good!

Way up north on this same snowy night,
Old Santa Panda was wrapping animal gifts in delight

“Sweet candy carrots,” he laughed, “will be loved by the tree ‘roos!”
He shook his fluffy red cheeks. (And his tummy shook too)

“Thank gosh for these stars and the moon as a compass,
This extra bright night will not let the snow swamp us.

To keep from collisions, we’ll have to fly slow.
To keep our direction, we’ll have to fly low.”

As E.J. the Santa Panda planned to spread Christmas glee,
He noticed that there was no star on his big Christmas tree.

He couldn’t believe they had forgotten the star,
It signified was Christmas for all no matter who they are.

“Come lemurs! Come leopards! Come pythons and peafowl!
Come servals! Come camels! Come tarantulas and turtles!

Be quick with your suppers! Get your winter coats in a hurry!
You too will find the star missing and understand my worry!”

Oh me, oh my, what will we do?
The ladders are too small, and none of the animals in the North Pole are tall

The star was not up, and so Christmas could not start
E.J. the Santa Panda sat in the snow like a tangle of lights, what could he do?

Then Santa Panda got an idea, so witty he was, he rolled onto his paws and dashed away,
“The animals at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo could help, I think, in some way!”

When E.J. the Santa Panda arrived at Animal Kingdom
The first animal bedroom was so very black
He tripped on the rug and fell flat on his back

So dark he had to crawl close to the bed,
And squint very hard at the bush baby’s head

The room was obscure, he couldn’t see anything at all
He decided to move on, this bush baby was probably too small

But all this took time, and filled Santa Panda with gloom,
While slowly he slumped toward the next animal’s room

Through the door he’d just opened he saw in surprise,
A neck long in length, he immediately felt energized

Legs ten times longer than any elf’s, gumdrop so big,
And what were these big bumps on its head?

His eyes were adjusting but the spots were all there,
This animal was amazing but what could it be?

And there lay… but wait now! Who would you suppose?
You guessed it! It was a young giraffe named Phoebe!

His eyes widened with joy at the sight of Phoebe,
For she could help bring Christmas to thee

E.J. the Santa Panda stood with a grin on his face,
He started to shake her (very gently of course) in order to wake

Phoebe could scarcely believe her big brown eyes!
You can just imagine her joy and surprise

Santa Panda who stood there, so real and so near,
While telling the tale we’ve already told here.

Phoebe listened to Santa Panda’s worried plea
That Christmas could not begin without the star atop the tree

“It’s a tall order,” he asked, “but could you save the day?
Your neck is just long enough to put the tree topper on the right way!”

“Please,” he begged, “help to start my Christmas journey before the first light!”
(Old Santa Panda, you’ll notice, was extra polite!)

And Phoebe broke out into such a big grin,
It almost connected her ossicones to her chin!

A quick note her zookeeper and she dashed off in a hurry
“I’ve gone to help Santa Panda,” she wrote, “Do not worry!”

Santa Panda hollered, “I’ll bring my sleigh down to the ground
You’d slip on the roof!” and flash… he was gone in a poof!

So Phoebe galloped out her tall door right away,
And took her place right next to Santa Panda in his sleigh

The two dashed to the North Pole, they had to hurry
Christmas needed to start and it was starting to flurry

When they reached the North Pole,
The Christmas animals were in such disarray,
They had never seen a neck that looked such a way

Phoebe knew she was there for important reason
So she walked past those animals feeling the joy of Christmas season

Phoebe found the star in a box next to the North Pole Christmas tree,
And she happily put it at the tippy top with ease

The animals whooped and cheered,
She couldn’t believe how happy they appeared

“Phoebe, you did it!” “Your neck is so tall!”
“You were just the perfect height, far better than us all!”

And when she saw Santa Panda’s face she knew,
Christmas was here, and his smile meant “thank you”

When Santa Panda looked at the time,
He let out a shout, “Get ready everyone, it’s showtime!”

Phoebe rushed back to the sleigh as Santa Panda made his way,
She knew that Christmas was here and that gave her great cheer

The two dashed to the Lincoln Children’s Zoo, they had to hurry
Phoebe needed to get back to bed and Santa Panda was worried

As they returned to the Zoo with smiles on their cold faces,
Santa Panda said, “You are amazing, you’ll go places!”

He selected a gift that was just right,
A small little journal with a flake of snow white

She opened the book and saw a handwritten note,
“Dearest Phoebe,” Santa Panda wrote,

“You understand now the joy that is Christmas,
Don’t ever let someone treat you with malice

For your long neck has saved our holiday fun,
I must let you know that in my heart, you are number one

There are bullies everywhere but you should never be scared,
For you are so kind and beautiful and strong.” He declared.

With a tear in her eye and joy in her heart, she looked up to the sky
And whispered, “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!”