Christmas

Those who have not Christmas in their hearts
will never find it under a tree.

Roy L. Smith

Christmas is the gentlest, loveliest festival of the
revolving year--and yet, for all that, when it
speaks, its voice has strong authority.

W.J. Cameron

Instead of being a time of unusual behavior, Christmas is perhaps
the only time in the  year when people can obey their natural
impulses and express their true sentiments without feeling
self-conscious and, perhaps, foolish.  Christmas, in short,
is about the only chance a person has to be him- or herself.

Francis C. Farley

Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away
like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.
The good you do for others is good you do yourself.

Norman W. Brooks
"Let Every Day Be Christmas"

It is the one season of the year when we can lay aside all gnawing
worry, indulge in sentiment without censure, assume the carefree
faith of childhood, and just plain "have fun."  Whether they call it
Yuletide, Noel, Weihnachten, or Christmas, people around the earth
thirst for its refreshment as the desert traveler for the oasis.

D.D. Monroe

I hear that in many places something has happened to Christmas; that it is
changing from a time of merriment and carefree gaiety to a holiday
which is filled with tedium; that many people dread the day and the obligation
to give Christmas presents is a nightmare to weary, bored souls; that the
children of enlightened parents no longer believe in Santa Claus;
that all in all, the effort to be happy and have pleasure makes
many honest hearts grow dark with despair instead of
beaming with good will and cheerfulness.

Julia Peterkin
A Plantation Christmas, 1934

Christmas - that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that
something so intangible that it is like a fragrance.  It may weave
a spell of nostalgia.  Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of
prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance--
a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved.

Augusta E. Rundel

This Christmas I would light a candle
In some forlorn child's eye,
Place a new star of friendship
In someone's lonely skies.
I would put a sparkling wreath of joy
Where it might melt a bitter heart;
Be steadfast in my prayer for peace
For all the world, not just a part.
So in this season, love-beguiled,
Would I gift the small Christ child.

Elizabeth Searle Lamb

Christmas is the one day of the year that carries real hope
and promise for all humankind.  It carries the torch
of brotherhood.  It is the one day in the year when most of us
grow big of heart and broad of mind.  It is the single day when
most of us are as kind and as thoughtful of others as we know how
to be; when most of us are as gracious and generous as we would
like always to be; when the joy of home is more important  than the
profits of the office; when peoples of all races speak cheerfully
to each other when they meet; when high and low wish each other well;
and the one day when even enemies forgive and forget.

Edgar Guest

The Best Gift
Betty Werth

On Christmas Eve, a young boy with light in his eyes
Looked deep into Santa’s, to Santa’s surprise
And said as he sat on Santa’s broad knee,
"I want your secret. Tell it to me."

He leaned up and whispered in Santa’s good ear
"How do you do it, year after year?"
"I want to know how, as you travel about,
Giving gifts here and there, you never run out.

How is it, dear Santa, that in your pack of toys
You have plenty for all of the world’s girls and boys?
Stays so full, never empties, as you make your way
From rooftop to rooftop, to homes large and small,
From nation to nation, reaching them all?"

(Find out the answer by reading the whole poem!  Click here!)

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I know that I was deep into a Christmas longing.  It's a longing each of
us senses this time of year--especially when we listen to the child inside
of us.  It's a desire to be home, to belong, to find fulfillment, complete
and eternal.  Christmas is an invitation to a celebration yet to happen.
On this side of eternity, Christmas is still a promise.
Yes, the Savior has come, and with Him peace on earth, but the
story is not finished.  Yes, there is peace in our hearts, but
we long for peace in our world.

Joni Eareckson Tada

Let us pray that strength and courage abundant be given to all
who work for a world of reason and understanding, that the
good that lies in every person's heart may day by day be magnified,
that people will come to see more clearly not that which
divides them, but that which unites them, that each hour
may bring us closer to a final victory, not of nation over nation,
but of people over their own evils and weaknesses, that the
true spirit of this Christmas season--its joy, its beauty, its hope,
and above all its abiding faith--may live among us, that the
blessings of peace be ours - the peace to build and grow, to live
in harmony and sympathy with others, and to plan
for the future with confidence.

unattributed

I really like Christmas Eve.  I think I like it even more than Christmas
Day.  On Christmas Day, you get to open your presents and see what
you got, but you also know that Christmas is starting to be over for a
year, and by nighttime some of the stuff you got is already broken.  But
on Christmas Eve, all the tree lights are on and carols are playing and
people are saying "Merry Christmas," and everything is about to happen,
but it didn't happen yet.  That's the best time of the year.

Dave Barry
The Shepherd, the Angel, and
Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog

At Christmas it is easier to see the wonder of things. I am not
sure whether the wonder wells up closer to the surface and
things actually have more of a glory or whether things look the
way they do because we are looking at them with more
wonder in our eyes.

Is the wonder in the things, or is it in us? I would say it is in both.
Certainly, things take on a special wonder at Christmas. With
candles at our tables, with wreaths in our windows, with holly at
our doors, with our houses festooned with colored lights, with the
lampposts hung with fir boughs and bells, with mailbags bulging
with greeting cards, with every shop window a window dresser's
triumph, with the downtown streets alive with noisy, jostling crowds
of joyous people all bent on bringing happiness to others—it is
as if at Christmas God gift wraps [the] world.

Christmas has power to quicken our sense of wonder because it
turns us into children. Children have a wonderful sense of wonder.

So tonight, before you fall asleep, lie still for a moment, shut your
eyes, and think back to the Christmas of your childhood.
Or better yet, feel for the wonder in your heart.

James Dillet Freeman

We expect too much at Christmas.  It's got to be magical.  It's
got to go right.  Feasting.  Fun.  The perfect present.  All that
anticipation.  Take it easy.  Love's the thing.  The rest is tinsel.

Pam Brown

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