‘Twas a night in December, and all through the house
Not a keyboard was clicking, nor even a mouse.
The children were restless with uncontained glee
All jacked up on candy canes filched from the tree.
When a noise could be heard from up on the roof –
“Do you think that its HER?” “Well of course it is, goof!”
In a flash she appeared, all in black, head-to-knees
Her eyes all a sparkle like bright LEDs
Her hair a deep purple, her nails to match
And a sack full of goodies, with wires attached
She went to work quickly, her task to attain
While a black cat named Mosfet just watched with disdain
From her sub-arctic workshop (in Brooklyn, of course)
Came these wonderful playthings, and all open source!
Where each tiny elf, dressed in green shoes and cap
Fills black cardboard boxes, with bubbeley-wrap.
Timmy’s a hacker, a maker and modder
For him a new iron, and plenty of solder
Bright shiny objects still fascinate Peter
Glowy new pixels are best by the meter!
Jane is the smart one, as bright as you please
For her a blue breakout, with 8 ADCs
I too was included, with widening eyes
Arduinos and Beagles and Raspberry Pis!
The stockings were stuffed, with an audible ‘Squee!’
With Floras and Gemmas and Trinkets (some free)
In a jiff she was gone and back on the roof.
She mounted her sleigh (Mosfet watching; aloof).
She settled in tight and gave the command
But still she looked ’round, while pausing her hand
And then she called out before turning her back:
“Merry Making to all, and to all a Good Hack!”
By Douglas Otwell
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
