| Santa comes quietly long before dawn |
| While shops are still busy and lights are still on |
| While dinners are cooking and kitchens are warm |
| And children count presents they'll open by morn. |
| He slips past the trees in windows aglow |
| Through the gate to the backyard |
| As icy winds blow |
| To find the pup he brought last year |
| Chained up in the snow |
| And, kneeling, he whispers, |
| "Are you ready to go?" |
| There are too many stops like this one tonight |
| Before the beginning of his regular flight |
| He leaves not a note or a footprint in sight |
| Just an unbuckled collar |
| On a cold Christmas night . . . |
Pam Tanzey has been drawing dogs since she was a little girl. She began freelancing twenty years ago Illustrating My Little Pony, Pound Puppies and Thomas the Tank Engine storybooks and coloring books. Since the spring of 1990 and the addition of her first Basset Hound Gracie, she has devoted herself to Canine art.
