Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the land
Not a creature was stirring
A storm was at hand
Ol’ Santa was worried
As he said with a frown
The children expect me
I can’t let them down
He checked on the weather
But the forecast was dreary
It looked like this Christmas
Might not be so merry
So he gathered his reindeer
In hopes that among them
They’d find a solution
To this unforeseen problem
Dasher and Dancer
Were no help at all
While Comet and Cupid
Just watched the snow fall
Prancer and Vixen
Were willing to try
But Donder and Blitzen
Thought it risky to fly
Hey, Rudolph can help us
Santa then stated
I know for a fact
That he’s Instrument rated
The others had teased him
And acted atrocious
As he studied his Jepp charts
And practiced approaches
Now the time and the effort
He’d put into training
Would make Christmas happen
Whether snowing or raining
He knew about vectors
And could use GPS
Which would guide them to places
Without having to guess
So they loaded the sleigh
Which presented a challenge
To confirm the CG
And assure weight and balance
When Santa was ready
And Rudolph was too
There was one final thing
That they needed to do
They contacted Center
To file IFR
For a trip that would take them
To countries afar
With clearance to waypoints
They flew into the flurry
On airways they’d travel
There was no need to worry
From country to city
And every small town
Rudolph guided the sleigh
And each house he found
When he landed at mine
I’ll admit my surprise
And I’m sure it was clear
By the look in my eyes
The night was as cold
As I could remember
And the chill left no doubt
That the month was December
His landing was perfect
And worthy of boast
Had he not been proficient
He’d have missed the approach
The sound on my roof
Brought relief and a sigh
Santa had made it
We’d not been passed by
He came down the chimney
And opened his sack
As he shook off the snow
From his beard and his back
In spite of the weather
Ol’ Santa was jolly
For some t’would be work
But to him this was folly
He filled all the stockings
Put gifts ‘round the tree
Most were for the children
But I saw one for me
Then quick as a flash
He was back to his sleigh
Where Rudolph was ready
To show him the way
He’d plotted the course
That would get them back home
With the help of flight following
From Athens to Nome
Santa looked at his checklist
Then let out a whistle
And away they all flew
Like an ICB missile
But I heard him exclaim
As he flew out of sight
Merry Christmas to all
Thanks to Instrument Flight
