Christmas poem by Rod McKuen 1974

He must have been the son of God.

What other man would take

            such chances?

None of any sanity,

and He had sanity to spare.

No magician He,

for all the miracles

He performed

were for the profit

of receivers only.

Can you imagine what

the doctor’s fee might be

for healing lameness

            with a smile

and blindness with a wink?

And those mercenary merchants

would have jailed a man –

far sooner than they did

the living, walking Christ –

for turning water into wine.

Or making one thin slice of bread

            manna for the many.

We’re told He never cried

within the confines

of that ill-kept stable

on that dark and silent night.

Even singing was left

            to the angels.

Who but the son of God

would miss the chance to sing

            amidst the angels?

A Prayer For Christmas Eve

Here is the emptiness of my night -

may it be filled with Your glory.

Here are the silences of my heart -

may they be filled with Your songs.

Here is the watchfulness of my eyes -

may they be opened to wonder.

Here is the listening of my soul -

may it hear the joy of Your love.

Here is the hopefulness of my journey -

may it lead me swift to Your side.

Here is the searching of my anxious mind -

may it find rest in Your peace.

Here is the wood and straw of my days -

may they be a bed for Your presence.

And here is the humble cave of my life -

may it be Your home, gentle Saviour.

Amen

author unknown

Christmas Ramblings

I first saw this style of ornament at a church Christmas sale MANY years ago. I thought it was the cleverest design I’d ever seen, although they are very common now. It was a great way to use old Christmas cards. I bought the ornament and proceeded to take it apart so I could see how to put one together. (This was LONG before the Internet or Pintrest) I made several of them and gave them as gifts to friends. They are a lot of fun to make.

I love a really GOOD fruitcake. It must be moist. It must be dripping with booze. I could make a meal of it. Most of the ones you find in the stores are crap. To get a really good one, you gotta pay for it. It’s worth it!

One very fond memory of Christmas for me is when we would get ready to decorate the tree. We’d have the big box of ornaments out and the tinsel all ready. But first, the hooks would have to be untangled. Every year when the tree was taken down, for some reason we’d put all the hooks in a pile in a box. There they would huddle together through the year until we were ready for them again. By that time they would be one ball of metal. My grandma’s job was to sit in her recliner with a big cookie sheet on her lap and slowly untangle all the hooks for us to pick up and use. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I got the bright idea of twisting the hooks so that they were permanently attached to the ornament.

As I said last week, I don’t care for eggnog. Here’s one of the reasons. When I was little, my brother and I were only given eggnog that had been cut with milk, as it was deemed too rich for us. One year I got eggnog with milk that had turned. I was SO SICK that night. That was when they realized that the milk had gone bad. Too late for me, alas.

These snowball desserts were real big when I was young. I remember the ads on TV for them at Christmas time. One year for a big treat, my mom bought a box of them at the store. It was so cool to be able to light the candles before eating them. As I recall, they weren’t that big a taste treat. Just ice cream. BUT YOU COULD LIGHT IT ON FIRE!!!