Gather ”round the piano, find the music for Winter Wonderland,

and have the family sing these words to that traditional holiday melody.

Cow bells ring, hear them pealing,

As they ding, there”s a feeling —

A wonderful sense of special events,

Christmas in a dairy wonderland.

Let it snow, though it”s chilling,

For we know it”s fulfilling

To cuddle up warm at home on the farm;

Christmas in a dairy wonderland.

In the kitchen we can churn some ice cream;

Bake some butter cookies Christmas eve.

Santa nibbling cheese is such a nice dream;

So have a dairy treat before you leave.

On the farm we aspire

While we dream by the fire,

To work and to play, the old fashioned way,

Living in Wisconsin”s dairyland.

Cow bells ring, hear them chiming,

Ding-a-ling, cattle climbing

Back home to the barn all toasty and warm;

Plodding through a wintry dairyland.

Gone away are the old times,

Here to stay are the bold times,

We”ll need to be strong as we go along

Working in a dairy wonderland.

In the meadow we can take a sleigh ride

Across the creek and through the shady glen.

We can stop to warm up at the wayside,

And still get back to milk the cows again!

On the farm hopes are higher

As we sit ”round the fire;

We”re truly sincere, this wonderful year —

Living in Wisconsin”s dairyland.

Dave Dickson

This is the 32nd annual holiday poem released by Dave Dickson, poet laureate and emeritus professor of dairy science and dairy extension at the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Over the holidays, Dickson will be enjoying the wintry dairyland at his family”s dairy farm near Everson, Washington.