Christmas in Central California

Bluest skies are o'er us shining,

Not a snowdrift anywhere

Frosty nights and dazzling mornings,

Zippy sparkle in the air.

Far away the tops of mountains

Whitely gleam beneath the sun,

While below, to join their fellows,

Dancing little streamlets run.

But down here amid the valleys

Fresh-plowed fields lie rich and black,

Save where sheen of emerald glistens

Where the grain is coming back.

In the hills the toyon berries

Flash their scarlet 'mid the green,---

California's brilliant holly,

Always loved where'er 'tis seen.

In the gardens still are blossoms,

Laggard roses still are sweet;

And, as first of spring's forerunners,

Here and there a primrose neat.

Not the Christmas of tradition,

Icy winds and glistening snow,

Yet the soul of Christmas finds us

Here where gentler breezes blow.

--Edith Granger Hawkes

League of American Pen Women, Sonoma County Branch Bulletin, December 1928 or 1927, page 9

"Class of 1891: Granger, Edith" - Classes of 1891-1900 records, Smith College Archives, CA-MS-01022, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts.