A friend of mine invited me to write and share a poem at a prison Christmas party.  I had gone once before to spend the holiday celebration with a group of men who would not be going home for Christmas.

I'm always taken aback by how after just a few minutes you forget about the walls, the guards, and the razor wire that is placed higher than any angel on a Christmas tree. You're just celebrating Christmas with another human being and not thinking about anything else.

I wrote and shared this poem with some men in prison that year. The holidays are exciting and amazing and at the same time can be the hardest time of the year for so many people for different reasons.

I try to remember the sacrifice of all the men and women serving overseas and their families. So many people struggling financially, those first holidays after someone passes away, or the first time you try to coordinate holiday custody arrangements.

I think about the repentant men I met that Christmas and their families.

We filmed this video of the poem from the prison Christmas party at the Falls in Sioux Falls SD.

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