On the first day of December, my daughter Kyra (age 11) decided to make an advent calendar for herself. She designed the calendar and wrote a poem to go with it. Then she wrote the poem, phrase by phrase, on the back of each numbered flap. When the last flap was opened, the last line of the poem appeared, and the image below.

Her poem is this month’s guest blog–and a wish for the coming year.

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On an early winter’s night of December 24th,
In the wind and snow, a brave girl ventured forth.
The sky was cloudy, the snow three feet deep,
But the strong little girl didn’t think she could sleep.
Silently she walked through the dark dark night,
And was rewarded by an incredible sight.
Deep in a forest, beneath the trees,
A pregnant doe was on her knees.
The girl settled into a thicket of thorn
And watched as a little fawn was born.
First came the front hooves, soft and white.
Then the perfect fawn’s head came into sight.
What followed the head was a neck, short and soft.
The shoulders followed; she was barely held aloft.
As the moon came out and began to glow,
The fawn, wet and clean, dropped to the snow.
At the very moment the fawn was born and the moon shone bright,
The clock struck the chime of midnight.
Later the girl would wonder in the pale pink dawn,
‘What better luck than a Christmas fawn?’

–Kyra Lewis Gee

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As Kyra explained to me afterwards, “No doe would give birth in the middle of winter. I just like fawns.” May you have such luck with unexpected beginnings in 2013!