By the time you read this, there
May be a temporary pair
Of supplemental Collins folk
Back here in Salem. Not a joke!
A joke is more like, Why’d the chicken
Roll across the road? …For licken!
…Wait, no, it’s a stone that crossed
For lichen! (That’s a kind of moss.)
That’s not important, though. This is:
Our house is full of Collinses!
Chicago and Van Nuys are down
By one apiece, but Salem town
Is brimming nigh to overflowing!
(Blame the boy, who won’t stop growing.)

In answer to your unasked query,
Illinois’s now home to Siri
Pretty much full-time as she
DePaulinates; semester three–
Or, rather, quarter four (point five?)–
Is in the books! Will she survive
To double-major victory?
(Bet on her valedictory.)
Time management’s the central art
Of any major–that’s the part
Where study’s rubber meets the road
(And no, that’s not some filthy code).
Siri’s into avant-garde
Directing, so it isn’t hard
For her to stay way out ahead
Of obligations (so she’s said);
What’s more, designing graphically’s
A passion tres in fashion: She’s
Already had some intern offers,
Some of which might fill her coffers,
Relatively speaking. (Hey,
A lot of internships don’t pay.)

Iain made Magna cum laude—
Mom and Dad could not be prouda–
In his B.S. (Animation),
Earning him a brief vacation
After graduation ere
Rejoining Bix Pix, which is where
He’d interned last year in the fall,
So now he’s got a job with all
The perks that storyboarding merits:
Not much cash, but lots of carrots,
Like a credit on a show
On Amazon. The man’s a pro!
He’s joined the world of working guys
In L.A. (well, O.K., Van Nuys).
We’re looking forward to the day
He’ll show us “Suspect Fowl Play.”

So, them’s the chicks what flew the nest.
What news, you ask, in re the rest?
If you’ve dropped by to visit, sorry
If we weren’t at home, but Kari
And her fellow empty-nester
Didn’t settle for sequester
Back in Salem. Why unravel
Here at home, when we can travel?
February, just for instance,
Found us flying quite a distance,
Joining Michael’s daddy’s mama
On a cruise to Grand Bahama
For her birthday party–she
Just finished her first century!
“All they who wander are not lost,”
We told the agents as we crossed
To Canada in early June:
Chicago via Saskatoon.
Nice place! No, really! Still, it’s very
E m p t y up there on the prairie–
Quite the opposite of Kona
In October: If you clone a
Thousand fish a thousand times
And dress them like demented mimes
And dunk them off a tropic beach…
Well, that’s a lesson schools won’t teach.

My point? You mean it wasn’t clear?
It’s weird without the children here.
We hope you’re with your loved ones, too!
And that’s our Christmas wish for you.