For the holiday season
awakens good cheer
And draws us closer
to those we hold dear.
And we open our hearts
and find it is good
To live among men
as we always should.

But as soon as the tinsel
is stripped from the tree,
The spirit of Christmas
fades silently
into the background
of daily routine,
And is lost in the whirl
of life's busy scene.

And all unawares
we miss and forego
The greatest blessing
that mankind can know...
For if we lived Christmas
each day, as we should,
And made it our aim
to always do good.

We'd find the lost key
to meaningful living,
That comes not from getting
but from unselfish giving...
And we'd know the great joy
of peace upon earth,
Which was the real purpose
of our Saviour's birth.

For in the glad tiding
of that first Christmas night,
God showed us
THE WAY,
THE TRUTH,
AND THE LIGHT.
~ Author unknown ~

A Christmas Prayer

Loving Father help us to remember
the birth of Jesus, that we may share in
the song of the angels, the gladness of the
shepherds, and the worship of the
wise men.

Close the door to hate and open the door
of love all over the world.
Let kindness come with every gift and
good desires with every greeting.

Deliver us from evil by the blessing which
Christ brings and teach us to be merry
with clear hearts.

May the Christmas morning make us
happy to be Thy children and the
Christmas evening bring us to our beds
with grateful thoughts, 
forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus' sake.
Amen!
~  Robert Louis Stevenson ~