Christmas

*Authors are unknown, unless otherwise noted.

Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. If we think on these things there will be born in us a Savior and over us all will shine a star, sending its gleam of hope to the world.
~ Calvin Coolidge

This is Christmas: not the tinsel, not the giving and receiving, not even the carols, but the humble heart that receives anew the wondrous gift, the Christ.
~McKibben

Keeping Christmas is good, but sharing it with others is even better.

The children's eyes on Christmas night could light the town with sparkling light.

I have always thought of Christmas as a good time; a kind, forgiving, generous, pleasant time; a time when men and women seem to open their hearts freely, and so I say, God bless Christmas
~Dickens

Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas.
~ Dale Evans

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

Remembrance, like a candle, burns brightest at Christmastime.
~ Charles Dickens

Christmas living is the best kind of Christmas giving.
~ Van Dyke

The way you spend Christmas is far more important than how much. ~ Henry David Thoreau

Christmas began in the heart of God. It's complete only when it reaches the heart of man.

The gift of friends and family is the greatest gift of all.

Christmas is a time for rejoicing and sharing with family and friends.

May your holidays be merry and bright.

At Christmas, play and make good cheer for Christmas comes but once a year.
~Thomas Tusser

Let the glory of the season light up your soul.

A season of joy for those who believe that it's more fun to give than it is to receive.

Presents are hiding. Children are waiting. The magic of the season is in the air.

Family and friends are the true gifts of Christmas.

Christmas Eve was a night of song that wrapped itself about you like a shawl. But it warmed more than your body. It warmed your heart...filled it, too, with melody that would last forever.
~Bess Streeter Aldrich

Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most.
~Ruth Carter Stapleton

Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.
~Calvin Coolidge

Christmas isn't a season. It's a feeling.
~Edna Ferber

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.
~Burton Hillis

May you have the gladness of Christmas - Which is Hope ; The Spirit of Christmas - Which is Peace; The Heart of Christmas - which is Love.

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

Christmas! The very word brings joy to our hearts. No matter how we may dread the rush, the long Christmas lists for gifts and cards to be bought and given--when Christmas Day comes there is still the same warm feeling we had as children, the same warmth that enfolds our hearts and our homes.
~Joan Winmill Brown

When Santa visits us this year,
He'll see we've done our part.
We'll leave him milk, some yummy treats,
and original works of art!

It's hard to think of anything
But Christmas in December.
There's so much to look forward to
And so much to remember.

Outside there's a pine tree standing straight and tall.
It need no decorations--nature's done it all.
Pinecones on its branches with icicles glistening bright,
Snow upon its needles and birds at rest from flight.
I see it from my window, and take the time to say,
Thank you for your beauty, tree, on this Christmas day.

Our Christmas wreaths are fat and round
Made of woodsy things we found.
We tied brown cones upon the green
And stuck red berries in between.
Upon the wreath for our front door
We tied red ribbon from a store.

Ummm, the smell of Christmas is everywhere I go,
Evergreens and holly, and pretty mistletoe,
Gingerbread and cookies, and fresh pumpkin pie,
Smoke is in the chimney, curling to the sky.

Christmas is...
THE GIFT OF LOVE
THE WARMTH OF CARING
A TIME OF WONDER
THE JOY OF SHARING!

Now, everywhere there is happiness,
Everywhere a feeling of cheer,
For it's Christmas Day, glad Christmas Day,
The grandest day of the year.
~19th century American verse

On a winter night when the moon is low
The rabbits hop on the frozen snow.
The woodpecker sleeps in his hole in the tree
And fast asleep is the chickadee.
Twelve o'clock and the world is still
As the Christmas star comes over the hill.
The angels sing, and sing again:
"Peace on earth, goodwill to men."
~Marion Edey

Somehow, not only for Christmas
But all the long year through,
The joy that you give to others
Is the joy that comes back to you.
And the more you spend in blessing
The poor and lonely and sad,
The more of your heart's possessing
Returns to you glad.
~John Greenleaf Whittier

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on Earth, good will to men!
~Longfellow

A Christmas candle is a lovely thing;
It makes no noise at all,
But softly gives itself away;
While quite unselfish, it grows small.
~Eva K. Logue

The merry family gatherings--
The old, the very young;
The strangely lovely way they
Harmonize in carols sung.
For Christmas is tradition time--
Traditions that recall
The precious memories down the years,
The sameness of them all.
~Helen Lowrie Marshall

When Christmas bells are swinging above the fields of snow,
We hear sweet voices ringing from lands of long ago,
And etched on vacant places
Are half-forgotten faces
Of friends we used to cherish, and loves we used to know.
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Christmastime
What says it's time for Christmas?
Is it the merry bells?
Or is it when the kitchen
Is sweet with spicy smells?
Or do we know when packages
are hiding in the hall?
Or when the tree, all tinseled,
stands rainbow-bright and tall?
Is it caroling . . . or candy canes
or teddy bears, or drums . . .
Is it dolls, or toys, or puddings,
that tell when Christmas comes?
What says best "It's Christmas!"
Is it all these things?
Or is it when we feel the Love
that Christmas always brings?
~Joan Walsh Anglund

Do Not Open Till Christmas
I shake-shake
Shake the package well.
But what there is
Inside of it
Shaking will not tell.
~James Tippett

Heap on more wood!
The wind is chill;
But let it whistle
As it will.
We'll keep
Our Christmas
Merry still.
~ Sir Walter Scott

It is Christmas in the mansion,
Yule-log fires and silken frocks,
It is Christmas in the cottage,
Mother's filling little socks.
It is Christmas on the highway,
In the thronging, busy mart.
But the dearest, truest Christmas
Is the Christmas in the heart.

Christmas may be many things,
Or it may be just a few.
For you, the joy
Is each new toy.
For me, it is watching you.

Oh, I took a lick of my peppermint stick,
And I thought it tasted yummy.
It used to be on my Christmas tree,
But I like it better in my tummy.

Adorned with winter's finest frill
The magic of the season rings,
When children raise their voice to sing
In praise of all that Christmas brings.