{"id":140,"date":"2025-12-25T03:27:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T03:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforsabrinaschangeofheart\/?p=140"},"modified":"2025-12-25T03:31:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T03:31:25","slug":"twas-the-night-before-christmas-at-the-childrens-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforsabrinaschangeofheart\/2025\/12\/25\/twas-the-night-before-christmas-at-the-childrens-hospital\/","title":{"rendered":"Twas The Night Before Christmas at the Children&#8217;s Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>&#8216;Twas the night before Christmas, inside hospital walls,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Where the hallways stayed hushed and soft paging calls<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a><\/a>Echoed low through the unit, all lights glowing bright,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As families kept vigil through another long night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No rooftops or reindeer, no hooves in the snow\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just monitors humming in a steady, slow flow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The rise and the fall of a small sleeping chest,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A tiny heart working, still giving its best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When out in the night came a sudden loud roar,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I woke with a start like so many times before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not sleigh bells or laughter, not magic in flight\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But a helicopter landing again in the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sirens cried out as they cut through the air,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A sound you can\u2019t stop, but learn how to bear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another new patient, another small fight,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another family pulled into this night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Machines hummed beside her all through the night,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While love stayed close, a constant in sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her stocking hung from the IV pole near her bed,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not filled yet with toys\u2014but with hope instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And maybe St. Nicholas doesn\u2019t need sleighs,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To find where the bravest hearts wait out their days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe he walks down a polished white hall,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Where courage lives quietly behind every wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He pauses at bedsides, then silently stays,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leaving comfort behind in the smallest of ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No promises spoken to make it feel right\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just faith for the morning, and strength for tonight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This Christmas looks nothing like Christmas before,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With families divided and souls feeling sore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019re missing togetherness we long for once more,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet finding small moments to cherish and store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still hope is the force we stand in and claim,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not loud or assured\u2014but unbroken by pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It points us ahead, beyond this hard year,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Toward seasons of joy that are still drawing near.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforsabrinaschangeofheart\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6656\/2025\/12\/Photo-18-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-141\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforsabrinaschangeofheart\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6656\/2025\/12\/Photo-18-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforsabrinaschangeofheart\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6656\/2025\/12\/Photo-18-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforsabrinaschangeofheart\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6656\/2025\/12\/Photo-18-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforsabrinaschangeofheart\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6656\/2025\/12\/Photo-18.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;Twas the night before Christmas, inside hospital walls, Where the hallways stayed hushed and soft paging calls Echoed low through the unit, all lights glowing bright, As families kept vigil through another long night. No rooftops or reindeer, no hooves in the snow\u2014 Just monitors humming in a steady, slow flow. The rise and the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2394,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Twas The Night Before Christmas at the Children&#039;s Hospital - COTA for Sabrina&#039;s Change of Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforsabrinaschangeofheart\/2025\/12\/25\/twas-the-night-before-christmas-at-the-childrens-hospital\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Twas The Night Before Christmas at the Children&#039;s Hospital\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&#8216;Twas the night before Christmas, inside hospital walls, Where the hallways stayed hushed and soft paging calls Echoed low through the unit, all lights glowing bright, As families kept vigil through another long night. 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