Packin' It In: There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell by Lucille Colandro

There was a kids' author whose name was Lucille,
Who for greedy old ladies had quite a feel.
Whether bell or bat or shell or snow,
There's no gustatory challenge where she won't go.

(So for strange holiday cravings, call Ms. Colandro.)

And for the Santa season, the symbols of Christmas are not off limits to Lucille Colandro's favorite old lady's appetite either.

There was an old lady who swallowed a bell!
How it jingled and jangled and tickled as well!

Now I don't know why
She swallowed a bell.
I wish she'd tell!

Surrounded by plenty of fluffy snowflakes and festive greenery, the capacious old lady puts away bows, gifts, a sack, a sleigh, and some reindeer in short order.

There was an old lady who swallowed some reindeer,
Those reindeer in full gear, those soaring reindeer!
She swallowed the reindeer to steer the sleigh.
She swallowed the sleigh to carry the pack,
She swallowed the pack.
It was easy to pack, a very big sack.

The seasonal symbols all go down smoothly, until the the old lady gets a yen for a candy cane treat to top it all off.

But when she heard a jolly "Ho! Ho! Ho!"
She knew it was time for her to go.
So she whistled loudly and soon by her side
Was Santa Claus waiting for a ride.

The old lady whistled up everything she had swallowed, now all neatly pre-packed in Santa's sack and loaded on the sleigh pulled by eight reindeer. With a "Happy Holidays to All," the old lady and old St. Nick are off into the Christmas sky.

Famed illustrator Jared Lee (known for his illustrations for the wildly popular The Teacher from the Black Lagoon series) provides his comic googly-eyed characters to keep the jollity coming in merry measure. To all kids familiar with the "there was an old lady who swallowed a fly" folk song, Lucille Colandro's There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Bell! is as welcome as the first signs of Christmas coming