Joseph's Dream

But while he thought one these things,

behold, the angel of the Lord appeared

unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou

son of David, fear not to take unto thee

Mary thy wife: for that which conceived

in her is of the Holy Ghost. 

And she shall bring forth a son, and

thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall

save his people from their sins.

Now all this was done, that it might be

fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by

the prophet, saying,

Behold, a virgin shall be with child,

and shall bring forth a soon, and they shall

call his name Emmanuel, which being

interpreted is, God with us.

Then Joseph being raised from sleep

did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him,

and took unto him his wife.

~ Matthew 1:20-24

Christmas Grace

Dear Lord, on this, Your day of birth,

Our tree is bright with shining balls,

Our house rings out with cries of mirth,

Grandchildren play in the halls.

Throughout our home

soft lights are gleaming;

Our table with rich food is spread;

And friends ave come,

with faces beaming,

To share with us in breaking bread.

You came, dear Lord, to humble stall;

Rough shepherds were Your guests that day.

You shared the warmth of donkey small

As You lay swaddled in the hay.

A heavenly star, bright light was bringing,

And love shone from Your mothers face;

And angel choirs on high were singing

That You had come to save our race.

Dear Lord, on this Your day of birth,

We thank You for the food we share;

We thank You for these gifts on earth;

We thank You for the clothes we wear,

For warmth, and home, and love o friends.

We thank You for the life You bring,

Eternal life that never ends.

We praise You, Savior, Christ our King!

~ Miriam Snow Priebe

One Candle

In the darkened church on Christmas Eve,

A single candle burned,

Then flickered briefly in the night

Until the flame returned.

As the choir sang "O Holy Night"

Beside the manger scene,

The room aglow with love and light,

Seemed peacefully serene.

Then through the silent night there rang,

From all whose hearts believed,

A prayer that every day might hold

The peace of Christmas Eve.

~ Virginia Gilman

Reveries

Hushed stood heaven's gentle angel,

Round the moonlight-frosted hills..

Hushed, the shepherds keeping watch

O'er flocks abiding in the fields.

Hushed, the stars in the pilgrim sky

Above celestial climes traversed.

Hushed, the wise men's greeting came

To mark the Savior's birth.

Hushed, with myrrh and incense sweet,

Their treasures they opened to Him.

Hushed, they heard the tidings of joy

That filled the stable dim.

All hushed as the Babe in the manger lay,

So soft in the nestling peace.

Hushed, as the streets of Bethlehem

Beneath the white wind's reveries.

~ Deborah A. Bennett

The Wonder of Christmas

Happy 3rd Anniversary to this Blog!  :)

In manger bed

on fragrant hay,

The precious

Baby Jesus lay;

Gentle Mary

proud vigil kept;

The Holy Infant

Smiling slept.

Soft lambs and sheep

beside Him stayed,

Warm shields from chilling,

cold winds made.

Wise Men and shepherds

traveled afar,

Guided by rays of

gold-gleaming star.

Heralding angels

chorused in flight

The gladness of

that glorious night.

Rich gifts of praise were

given to greet

The sacred Christ Child,

precious and sweet.

A brilliant, bright halo

encircled above

The cradled dear Baby,

God's gift of love.

The hopes for joy

and peace were born,

Our wondrous gift, that

first Christmas morn.

~ Elisabeth Weaver Winstead

Beneath the Tree

The crystal star was gleaming bright,

From the topmost branch on Christmas night.

I sat alone, and icicles twirled

And twinkled at me from their tinsel world.

Beneath the tree, where gifts had lain,

The cross on the wooden base was plain

Through the cotton snow, and I was stirred

By a thought so true that I almost heard.

Beneath the beauty, the glitter and gloss,

No Christmas wholly conceals the Cross,

For there is a form that each must own,

Geometry of flesh and bone.

And Beethoven's star can never die;

The heart's own cross will hold it high.

~ Author Unknown

Christmas is Not a Time or a Season

Christmas is not a time or 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.  If we think on these things, there will

be born in us a Savior and over us will shine a

star sending its gleam of hope to the world.

~ Calvin Coolidge

To a New House at Christmas

This year and hereafter

Let every beam ad rafter

Echo love and laughter.

Store up the sound of fife and drum,

Hold close new babies and the cry

Of young delight. Let children come.

Enclose much love, for people die

And years grow old. You cannot keep,

Except in mind, the footsteps gone,

The homing heart may joy or weep.

Yours is the wonder that is born

Of holding close all those who call

Your roof their own. Confide to boughs

About your eaves in spring or fall,

In June or now that life endows

A house with Christmas laughter

For now and ever after.

~ Rosemary Clifford Trott

Little Lights

Somehow the little colored lights

Are brighter than the rest;

Of all the lovely Christmas sights,

The little lights are best.

The rows and strings of lights we see

Are imaged on the snow;

But little lights upon the trees

Shine forth with mystic glow.

They shine like jewels rich and rare,

In red, and blue, and green;

They look like flowers, bright and fair,

That summer days have seen.

Perhaps the little lights are blessed

With healing, light and mild,

Because the burn and shine their best

For Mary's little Child.

~ J. Harold Gwynne

Coming Home

The fine-line script of chimney smoke

Writes "Welcome" in the sky.

This country road brings memories

As miles go skimming by.

There are thoughts of gentle living,

Of scenes from Christmas past,

Of sounds so warm and homey,

Where roots hold deep and fast.

What bonds of love bind and keep,

Time and distance cannot separate.

I'm coming home; it's Christmas,

Where loved ones live and wait.

~ Lois J. Martinec

Simple Joys

A cedar bough,

A candle lit,

A rocking chair

In which to sit,

A glowing hearth,

A loving smile,

Companionship

To pass the while,

An open  book,

A kitten's purr,

Simmering pot

To sniff and stir,

A baby's laugh,

A grandma's tale,

A dust of snow

On front-porch rail,

A whispered prayer,

A whistled carol,

A biting wind

And warm apparel,

A childhood game,

A lifelong friend,

A cheerful card

To sign and send ---

These simple joys

Are much the reason

For celebrating

The Christmas season.

~ Sandi Keaton-Wilson

Christmas Valley

I stand on a hill, looking downward

To the snowy valley below;

I see smoke spirals from chimneys

And windows with candles' warm glow.

Children skate on a shallow pond,

Within the churchyard's domain,

And men ride upon wood-piled sleds

With Old Dobbin pulling the reins.

As I scan the slope nearest me,

Youths are merrily bobsledding,

And little creatures of the wood

Deep in their nests are bedding.

And I feel a sweet awareness

Of a Presence from above,

Whose birth in lowly Bethlehem

Filled all  the world with love.

I pick up my little fir tree

Because twilight is drawing near

And wend home down a snowy path

For the happiest time of the year.

~ Elizabeth Swain Lawson

I Have Forgotten Much

I have forgotten much, but still remember

The poinsettia's red...

~ Claude McKay

And When a Snowflake Finds a Tree

And when a snowflake finds a tree,

"Good-day!" it says, "Good -day to thee!

Thou art so bare and lonely, dear,

I'll rest and call my comrades here."

~ Mary Mapes Dodge

Christmas is Here

Christmas is here:

Winds whistle shrill,

Icy and chill.

Little care we;

Little we fear

Weather without,

Shelter'd about

The Mahogany Tree.

~ William Makepeace Thackeray

At Christmas

At Christmas I no more desire a rose

Than wish a snow in May's newfangled shows,

But like of each thing that in season grows.

~ William Shakespeare

Snow

Snow, snow over the whole 

land across all boundaries

~ Boris Pasternak

Round and Round

Round and round, like a dance of snow

In a dazzling drift...

~ Robert Browning

It Is the Sea

It is the sea that whitens the roof.

The sea drifts through winter air.

It is the sea that north wind makes.

The sea is in the falling snow.

~ Wallace Stevens

The Splendor of Silence

The splendor of silence - of snow-jeweled hills and of ice.

~ Ingram Crockett

Winter Comes

Winter comes to rule the varied year.

~ James Thomson

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas,

Just like the ones I used to know....

~ Irving Berlin

Iowa Sled Ride

Papa forked sweet-smelling hay in the sled,
Then in their stout harness our horses he led,
Soon hitched securely, they stomped in
the snow.
"Come on," called Papa, "A-sledding
we'll go."

Hatted and coated and booted and muffed,
We clambered in wildly, the hay was
all roughed.
With blankets and lap robes we all tried
our best
To make for ourselves a warm little nest.

Away! Now the sled was all rapture
and noise,
Filled with five giggly girls and five
wiggly boys,
Slipping so smoothly along in the snow ---
Over the white countryside we did go.

Over a hill, down a clean, frosty road,
The  horses seemed happy to carry their load.
The songs that we sang and the stories
we told
Echoed in air that was still from the cold.

Now joyous and free to adventuring go,
We have a father to  guide us above the
deep snow,
And know, that no matter how far we
may roam,
He will take us all safely and
happily home.

~ Marian Fulton Daggett

Blue Boy

I had  a sled that grandpa made;

It meant the world to me.

With wooden bed and runners,

A beauty for all to see.

I pulled it to the op of a hill

When the snow was soft and new

'Twas the envy of all my friends,

With its bold new coat of blue.

How many hours of winter

Did I spend upon that sled,

Bundled warm in my snowsuit

With a scarf upon my head!

When I see the sleds of my children,

Streamlined, with metal bright,

I dream again of "Blue Boy"

And that snowy hill, with delight.

I know they'd call it old-fashioned,

But if I had it once more, here,

I'd race them down the hill again

And win, with a mighty cheer.

Many like the new ones,

With varnished wood and chrome,

But give me my old "Blue Boy"

And snow on the hill back home.

~ Shirley Sallay

Snowstorm

The cars go by on softly muted wheels;

The houses have a homemade country look;

The Church of the Redeemer, there on Bloor,

Looks like a picture from an ancient book.

The roofs are thatches, with furry layers of snow

Tacked on like bating at a Christmas show.

White-haloed lampposts stand like sentinels

Before the sleeping castle of their lord;

A million wires furred with downy white

Glisten and sparkle like a Christmas cord.

The whole town has a happy, festive air,

Gay as the dancing at a country fair.

A little boy pulls a scarlet sleigh,

A lady picks out her way to church,

A bird half-hidden in the shrubbery

Finds his balance on a snow perch;

The house across the street changed in the night

Into a fairy palace - shining, white.

Just for a day, let us be young again.

And let this gentle peace be truly ours:

The snowy paths, the little gates ajar,

The quaint, top-heavy look of laden towers,

A city wrapped in cellophane and wool -

God's Christmas package, strangely beautiful.

~ Edna Jacques

No Two Moments

No two moments are any more alike

than two snowflakes.

~ Zora Neale Hurston

Winters Past

I remember long, long icicles that glittered in the sun

Like crystals flashing from the eaves of houses, every one!

First stretching longer, day by days.

Then dripping, shrinking, the array,

Of sparkling spears a-dangle disappeared, and there were none.

I remember frosty forest ferns upon the window glass,

Those early morning etching as of jungle leaf and grass,

Which wavered with alarm

And vanished as the air grew warm,

But overnight appeared again with glorious foliage mass.

I remember tall brick chimneys on rooftops everywhere,

And noses pinched by acrid smell of coal smoke in the air,

And watching grimy soot-fall fly

Onto the laundry hung to dry -

And laughing, sliding on the snow as grownups turned to stare.

~ Mary Catherine Johnson

My Son's First Snow

Passed against the windowpane,

My baby watches his first snow

With eyes and mouth in wonder wide

At sight of this strange countryside,

All white beneath the sparkling tide

Of freshly falling snow.

Ah, Son, the storms of life with pain

May scar your face and heart, I know;

But may they never from your eyes

Remove the light that in them lies,

As now, in wondering surprise,

You watch the falling snow.

~ Harry E. Ezell

Indigo Eve

The sky's a shade of indigo,

The moon, a paler blue.

Stars shimmer with a sliver glow,

For evening clouds are few.

While gazing at this darkened sky,

I watch an owl's arrow flight

Add a touch of simple beauty

To this quiet winter night.

~ Laurie L. LaMontagne

Winter's Sleep

Heavy with slumber,

Winter readies her downy bed,

Spreading a fleecy white blanket

Over mountains, trees,

And frozen streams.

She draws her lace curtain

Across the skies

And lies down to icicle dreams.

~ Jeanne M. Wilkes

First Snowfall

Angels feathers

fill the sky,

fluttering down

from heaven on high,

sprinkling the trees

and each upturned face;

they dance through the air

with celestial grace,

settling so softly

on rooftops below -

the magic descent

of winter's first snow.

~ Linda Elizabeth Ironside