The Cowboy Night Before Christmas - James Rice

For: anyone, for fun
Published: 1986/2007
Pelican Publishing
Rating: 3.5 (uninspiring illustrations, great poem)
Read: sometime in November
Endpapers: White ! ! !

'Twas a cold Christmas eve
...on the Southwestern plain
And the north wind was blowin'
...through a broke winderpane.

So starts this rewrite of "Twas the Night Before Christmas". Every other two-page spread is in color, mostly brown and yellow hues, with the ones in between being pen and ink.

Santa's team had taken off, fled north, and he had "many a mile yet 'fore the sun hits the sky." The only help the cowboys could offer was some ornery longhorns to help pull his wagon:

While roping the longhorns
...they bumped and they stumbled
And numerous times
...from their hosses they tumbled.
It took all three working
...an hour or more
To hitch up the wagon
...in two rows of four.

And of course, they couldn't believe their eyes when the whole outfit took off into the sky and, shaking their heads in disbelief:

They reached the sod shanty
...and opened the door
And they couldn't believe
...what they saw on the floor.
Two pairs of new boots
...with spurs made of silver,
With a note but not clue
...as to who was the giver.