‘Twas the eve of healthcare, when all through the server,
Not a data point stirred, not even a cursor.
The servers were hung by the cloud with great care,
In hopes that St. Interoperability soon would be there.

The clinicians were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of data sharing danced in their heads;
And the CIO in her office, and I with my app,
Had just settled down for a long winter’s nap,

When out on the network there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my desk to see what was the matter.
Away to the dashboard I flew like a flash,
Tore open the files and threw up the cache.

The glow of the screen on the charts and the code
Gave the luster of progress to data that flowed.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a digital sleigh, and eight tiny engineers,

With a tech-savvy driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than fiber his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

“Now, SQL! now, XML! now, HL7 and FHIR!
On, CCD! on, CDA! on, DICOM and CDS!
To the top of the network! to the top of the cloud!
Now transmit away! transmit away! transmit away all!”

As data streams that before the secure gateway fly,
When they meet with encryption, soar to the sky.
So up to the data hub the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of records, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the drive,
The whirring and humming of each little byte.
As I drew in my focus, and was turning around,
Down the virtual chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in tech, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all gleaming with algorithms and soot;
A bundle of analytics he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a hacker just opening his pack.

His eyes — how they analyzed! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like RAM, his nose like a query!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a script,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the bit.

The stump of a stylus he held tight in his teeth,
And the code it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad knowledge and a little round belly,
That shook when he processed like data in jelly.

He was savvy and bright, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A nod of his head and a click of his mouse,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to grouse.

He spoke not a word but went straight to his hack,
And filled all the records; then turned with a knack,
And laying his finger aside of his code,
And giving a nod, up the server he rode;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a beep,
And away they all streamed like data in a leap.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he logged out of sight,