selective xmass poetry

Past..and Present
(Joseph Kallinger)

Christmas,..the time of year
that has the impact
of a childhood story

where the past meets the present
and the old not be forgot
and the dreams of the future
all rolled into..the presents
that we give our loved ones.

but the best present..is simply being present

Memories are a special house
We build inside ourselves
Where love and laughter linger,
Where all our past life dwells.

On holy-days like Christmas
We can draw upon the store,
Reliving happy times and loves sealed within our mind

And feeling all that warmth..once more.
gwet the strength together to face ...just one more

Wherever we may travel,
This house of loving memory..is always there
To help to blend..the old and new,

To build upon the sure foundations
set firmly in our past...
to now...grow...into flower and fruit
for those who gift with our presence...to care and share.

This house can never get too full,
Just grow from floor to floor,
Because the joy of memories
Is always making more.

Making Memories..in our atteding present

Christmas is a time of joy,[for every ggirl and boy
A time for brotherly-love and good-cheer,
A time for making memories,and recalling their best
To last us all..throughout the year

Christmas Candle
(Eva K. Logue)

A Christmas candle..is a lovely thing;
It makes no noise at all,but think of the stories it doth bring

it radiates its light...reflecting on loving faces
But softly gives more of itself away;

While quite unselfishly,..
the smaller..it grows...
the more light/warmth and comfort it gives

Christmas Magic

Are we too grownup to feel a thrill
As we light the Christmas tree?
Are we immune to cookies,
Christmas cards and Christmas glee?

Are we too adult to "Ooh" and "Aah"
At the Christmas candle's glow?
Are we blasé about our gifts;
Do we shun the mistletoe?

Are we too mature for carols,
For merry or for jolly?
Do the decorations leave us cold,
The ornaments and holly?

Fat chance! We'll never grow too old
To love the Christmas magic.
A year without a Christmas
Would be boring, even tragic.

So bring it on! The candy canes,
The feasting and good cheer;
O Christmas, lovely Christmas,
You're the highlight of the year!

By Joanna Fuchs

My Christmas E-Mail
I have a list of people I know, all logged in my computer,
And now at Christmas time I have gone to take a look.

And that is when I realize that these names are a part,
Not of the computer they're stored in, but of my heart.
For each name stands for someone who has crossed my path sometime,
And in that meeting they've become the rhythm in each rhyme.
And while it sounds fantastic for me to make this claim,
I feel that I'm composed of each remembered name.

And while you may not be aware of any special link,
Just meeting you has changed my life, a lot more than you think!
For once I have met somebody, the years cannot erase,
The memory of a pleasant word (or E-mail) or of a friendly face.
So never think my Christmas E-mails are just a mere routine,
Of names upon an address list, forgotten in between.

For when I do a Christmas E-mail that is addressed to you,
It's because you're on the list of people I'm indebted to.
And whether I have known you for many years or few,
In some way you have been a part of shaping things I do.
And now that Christmas has come, I realize anew,
The best gift life can offer is meeting people like you.

Recipe for Christmas All Year Long

Take a heap of child-like wonder
That opens up our eyes
To the unexpected gifts in life—
Each day a sweet surprise.

Mix in fond appreciation
For the people whom we know;
Like festive Christmas candles,
Each one has a special glow.

Add some giggles and some laughter,
A dash of Christmas food,
(Amazing how a piece of pie
Improves our attitude!)

Stir it all with human kindness;
Wrap it up in love and peace,
Decorate with optimism, and
Our joy will never cease.

If we use this healthy recipe,
We know we will remember
To be in the Christmas spirit,
Even when it's not December.

By Joanna Fuchs

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. ~Norman Vincent Peale

Christmas is a time when you get homesick - even when you're home. ~Carol Nelson

He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree. ~Roy L. Smith

I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. ~Charles Dickens

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

The best of all gifts..around any Christmas tree:

the presence of a happy family..
all wrapped up in each other.~Burton Hillis

One of the most glorious messes in the world..is the mess created in the living room..on Christmas day.

Don't clean it up too quickly.~Andy Rooney

Happy,..happy Christmas,..that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days;..that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth;..that can transport the sailor and the traveller,..*thousands of miles away,..back to his own fire-side..and his quiet home!
~Charles Dickens,..The Pickwick Papers,1836

There has been only one Christmas
the rest..are anniversaries.~W.J.Cameron

'Twas Christmas..broach'd the mightiest ale;
'Twas Christmas told..the merriest tale;
A Christmas gambol oft could cheer
The poor man's heart..through half the year.
~Walter Scott

Christmas is a necessity.
There has to be at least one day of the year
to remind us that we're here for something else besides ourselves. ~Eric Sevareid

Our hearts grow tender..with childhood memories
and love of kindred,and kin..and we are better throughout the year for having,..in spirit,..become a child again..at Christmas-time...where we let others in ~Laura Ingalls Wilder

May Peace be your gift at Christmas
and your blessing all year through!~Author Unknown

I will honor Christmas..in my heart,
and try to keep it all the year.~Charles Dickens

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree.
In the eyes of children,..they are all 30 feet tall.~Larry Wilde,..The Merry Book of Christmas

Christmas is the season..for kindling the fire of hospitality
in the hall's ogf the mind...and ,..the genial flame of charity..in the heart.~Washington Irving

Gifts of time..[presence],..and love
are surely the basic ingredients..of a truly merry Christmas.~Peg Bracken

Isn't it funny..that at Christmas something in you
gets so lonely for..-I don't know what exactly,..but it's
something that you don't mind..so much..not having..at other times. ~Kate L. Bosher

At Christmas,
all roads lead home.~Marjorie Holmes

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 man has to be himself.~Francis C. Farley

It is Christmas..in the heart
that puts Christmas..in the air.~W.T.Ellis

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love! ~Hamilton Wright Mabie

Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen. ~Author unknown, attributed to a 7-year-old named Bobby

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 Wesley Brooks, "Let Every Day Be Christmas," 1976


When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs? ~G.K. Chesterton

Christmas is the day that holds all time together. ~Alexander Smith

I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month. ~Harlan Miller

From a commercial point of view, if Christmas did not exist it would be necessary to invent it. ~Katharine Whitehorn

In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it 'Christmas' and went to church; the Jews called it 'Hanukkah' and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank.

People passing each other on the street would say 'Merry Christmas!' or 'Happy Hanukkah!' or (to the atheists) 'Look out for the wall!' ~Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide"

Remember
This December,
That love..weighs more than gold!

~Josephine Dodge Daskam Bacon

I sometimes think we expect too much of Christmas Day...We try to crowd into it the long arrears of kindliness..and humanity of the whole year.

As for me,..I like to take my Christmas
a little at a time,..all through the year.

And thus I drift along into the holidays -let them overtake me unexpectedly -waking up some find morning..and suddenly saying to myself: "Why,..this is Christmas Day!" ~David Grayson

A Christmas candle..is a lovely thing;
It makes no noise..at all,
But softly gives itself..away.
for the joy of all
~Eva/Logue

Christmas..is not as much about opening..our presents
as opening..our hearts.~Janice Maeditere

Perhaps the best Yuletide decoration
is just-being..*we..,wreathed..in smiles.~Author Unknown

Oh look,..yet another Christmas TV special!
How touching to have..the meaning of Christmas
brought to us by cola,..fast food,and beer....

Who'd have ever guessed..that product consumption,..popular entertainment,..and spirituality would mix..so harmoniously?..~Bill Watterson,Calvin & Hobbes

Only in souls..the Christ is brought..to birth,
And there..He lives and thrives...even for us..left on earth.
~Alfred Noyes

For the spirit..of Christmas
fulfils the greatest hunger..of mankind.~Loring A. Schuler

This is the message of Christmas:
We are never alone.~Taylor Caldwell

Oh,..for the good old days..when people would stop
Christmas shopping..when they ran out of money.~Author Unknown

I can understand people simply fleeing..the mountainous effort Christmas has become...but there are always..a few saving graces and finally..they make up for all the bother..and distress.[with a smile]..~May Sarton

It is..the Christmas time:
And up and down..'twixt heaven..and on earth,
In glorious grief..and solemn mirth,..togetherness
The shining angels climb-down..
to all us remaining here..on earth..
~Dinah Maria/Mulock

Fail not..to call to mind,..in the course of
the twenty-fifth of this month,..that the Divinest Heart..that ever walked the earth..was born on that day;..

and then smile and enjoy yourselves
for the rest of it;..for mirth is also of Heaven's making.~Leigh Hunt

The perfect Christmas tree?
All Christmas..trees are perfect!~Charles N. Barnard

Great little One!..whose all-embracing birth
Lifts Earth..upto Heaven,..stoops Heaven back-to Earth.
~Richard Crashaw

I do like Christmas..on the whole....
In its clumsy way,..it does approach Peace..and Goodwill...
But it is clumsier..every year.~E.M. Forster

At Christmas
A man is at his finest..towards the finish of the year;
He is almost what he should be..when the Christmas season's here;

Then he's thinking more of others..than he's thought the months before,..And the laughter of his children..is a joy worth toiling for.

He is less a selfish creature..than at any other time;
When the Christmas spirit rules him..he comes closest..to the sublime...free of time..
~Edgar Guest