Christmas On Mars

This will not be a typical Christmas Day. Home is one hundred million kilometers away. There is desiccated orange soil all around. Nowhere is there a fir tree to be found. Nearby is a cone-shaped rock formation. Perhaps we can use our imagination. Someone came up with an idea quite keen. Why don’t we spray paint that cone-rock green? We might dress it up with some tinsel and lights. It will look pretty during the twelve Christmas nights. Sunset is almost here. We will have to go. At night, temperatures can drop to forty below. We will be nice and warm inside our Quonset huts. There is some eggnog and fruitcake full of nuts. The chaplain can lead us in a service and prayer. Right now, let us get out of this thin, cold air. Here comes the nighttime under a canopy of stars. This is our first Christmas on Mars.