A Book of Christmas Poems

Island and Sea, Christmas and Me: A Collection of Hilton Head Poems by Chris Wagner was published by the local Lydia Inglett Ltd. Publishing company in 2018. Wagner substituted a Christmas poem per year rather than writing a traditional year end letter. He admits that he has borrowed extensively from others. More than a few poems can be put to the tunes of well known carols or are written in the meter of "'Twas the night before Christmas.'" For example, the poem "A Sea Pines Christmas" was penned in 2004 after the gated community culled hundreds of local deer: 

'Twas a week before Christmas

We all stayed at mom's
A quaint Sea Pines home
Next to Heritage Farms.

It was three in the morning
I just couldn't sleep
The house was too quiet
There wasn't a peep.


My wife lay there sleeping
With Jessie and Belle
The house had a mixture 

Of Christmas time smells.

I got up and tiptoed

Outside and sat down

In the clear Southern night

I could hear a strange sound.

A dark, tiny object

Appeared in the sky

With a small, whining engine

That made the thing fly.

An ultralight plane? 

At this time of night?

It didn't make sense

It didn't seem right. 

It landed outside of 

The nature preserve

I ran to a spot

To closer observe ...

That this strange looking object

Was not a small plane

But a miniature sleigh

With harness and reins.

A small stocky man 

All dressed up in red

Sat up in the seat

And got out of the sled.

I thought I was dreaming; 

This happened so quick

I suddenly realized 

It must be St. Nick. 

But why had he come down

So early this year?

Where were his presents?

Where were his deer?

I pondered intensely

What this trip was about

When he turned 

Toward the woods

And started to shout:

"Come Bubba, come Dixie, 

Come Beaufort, come Bo, 

Come Scarlette, come Asher,

And ol' Billy Jo.

Come Charlotte, Savannah, 

And Sweet Georgia Brown, 

Come out an see Santa

But don't make a sound." 

Then out of the woods

There seemed to appear

A magnificent buck

And a small herd of deer.

They all ran to Santa

They jumped and they played

He said, "Stay right there, 

And don't run away."

They all gathered round him

All willing and tame

He laughed as he spoke

And began to explain, 

"I'll be needing your help

I need a new crew

My faithful old reindeer

Are all sick with the flu." 

There was no time to waste

There was no time to play

He hitched up a team

And jumped back in his sleigh.

With some magical dust

And some magical words

Away they all flew

Like some magical birds.

Then I heard Santa  say

As they flew out of sight, 

"I'll save all the rest of you 

some other night!"

A smile overcame me

I had gotten my wish 

The sun was now rising

It was time to go fish!

Best fishes to all and to all a good bite! 

One cannot get much more local - and seasonal - than this collection of poems. Just be aware that Wagner finds humor in the foibles of humans and local happenings: "The Night Before Christmas" (1990) is about a fishing trip in which the fish wins; "A Redneck Christmas" (2006) has Santa delivering eight cases of beer on a John Deere tractor; his version of the "12 Days of Christmas" (1997) involves lots of fishing gear, "Three months of dockage, Two Evinrudes and a fishing boat under my tree."; "Jingle Bells, The Hilton Head Way" (1991) has this chorus "Jingle Bells, Oyster Shells, Seatrout in the bay. Oh what fun it is to fish in Calibogue Cay." 

We have a permanent copy of his book in the Research Room along with those of other local poets in  the 810s and Hilton Head Branch Library has a copy to share through its local history section that you can check out. 

As the holidays approach, please mark your calendars for the upcoming changes to the Library's operating schedule: 

The Library will be closed: Thursday, December 23 - Monday, December 27, 2021. The Library will be open Tuesday, December 28 - Thursdays, December 30, 2021. The Library will be closed again on Friday, December 31, 2021 and Saturday, January 1, 2022. All locations will re-open Monday, January 3, 2022, though some will have new hours of operation.