Celebrate the Christmas Season-

Dashing through the snow?
Wandering which will give out first-
your feet or your budget?
Christmas isn't supposed to be a marathon of exhausting obligations-
it's a celebration of all that is good and right

Christmas is doing a little extra for someone.

Good news from heaven the angels bring,
Glad tidings to the earth they sing:
To us this day a child is given,
 To crown us with the joy of heaven.
--Martin Luther

Deck the halls...
Boughs of holly,
Swags of pine,
Festive red ribbons
And parcels wrapped in twine.
Garland and tinsel,
Cancles glowing bright,
Star-shaped cookies,
And strings of lights,
Christmas ornaments of red , white, and green,
But the best decorations are the loved ones we've seen.

Perhaps the best Yuletide decoration is being wreathed in smiles.
--Unknown

'Tis the season to be jolly...
It is requisite for the relaxation of the mind
that we make use, from time to time,
of playful deeds and jokes.
--St. Thomas Aquinas

In things pertaining to enthusiasm,
no man is sane who does not know how
to be insane on proper occasions.
--Henry Ward Beecher

Fa la la la la..
Music has charms to soothe the savage breast
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.
--William Cingreave

Unwind. Relax. Set the mood for your holiday 
season by surrounding hourself wiith music. Hum.
Sing. Listen to carols in the car. Go caroling and 
share the joy!

Let's dance and sing and make good cheer,
 For Christmas comes but once a year.
--Sir George Alexander MacFarren

Celebrate the holidays in dozens of small ways. 
Joy has a way of multiplying.

Make the most of the season.
Share it with the ones you love!

Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, Love Divine;
Love was born at Christmas; 
Star and angels gave the sigh.

Love is the best reason to celebrate.
Carry that attitude all year long!

I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.
--Ebeneezer Scrooge, in a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

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

 Christians awake,
salute the happy morn
whereon the Saviour of the world was born.
--John Byrom

The magi, as you know,, were wise men--
wonderfully wise men who brought gifts to the
Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving
 Christmas presents.
--O. Henry

The joy of brightehing other llives,
 bearing each others' burdens,
easing others' loads, and supplanting empty
 hearts and lives with generous gifts
 becomes for us the magic of Christmas

The best present is the gift of
 a family around a glittering tree,
wrapped  in contentment
 and tied with a ribbon of charity.

Somehow, not only for Christmas,
But all the long year through,
The joy that you give 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

Let
us re-
member
that
the
Christmas heart is a giving heart,
a wide-open heart that thinks of 
others first. The birth of the baby
Jesus stands as the most signifi-
cant event is all histoy, because
it has meant the pouring into a
sick world of the healing medicine
of love which has transtormed all
manner of hearts for almost two
thousand years.... Underneath all 
the bulging bundles is this beating 
Christmas heart.=George Matthew Adams

The first gift
of Christmas was self.
Christ gave us Himself 
to light the way to heaven.

To give without any reward, or any notice,
has a special quality of its own.
--Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Remember
This December,
That love weighs more than gold!

A Christmas Blessing:
During this Christmas season,
May you be blessed
With the spirit of the season,
Which is peace,
The gladness of the season,
Which is hope,
And the heart of the season, 
Which is love.

One of the nice things about Christmas is that
you can make people forget the past with a present!

The best gifts don't fit neatly into a box. Forgive
someone; you;ll free yourself. Show kindness; you'll find
joy. Respect others and you'll cultivate self-esteem.
In giving, we ultimately discover teasures within.
Carry on the celebration of giving all the year long. 

It is more blessed to give than to receive!

I think I began learning long ago that those
who are happiest are those who do the most for others.
-Booker T. Washington

We must want for others,
not ourselves alone.
-Eleanor Roosevelt

You make a living by what you get,
 but you make a life by what you give.

If there is no joyouw way to give a festive gift,
give love away.

May peace be your gift at Christmas
and your blessing all year through.

For little children everyshere
A Joyous season still we make;
We bring our precious gifts to them.
Even for the dear child Jesus' sake.
--Phoebe Cary

Joy is not in things:
it is in us.
--Richard Wagner

Open yourself to the fun of the season.
Appreciate the refreshing spirit of kindness.
Laugh and enjoy everything around you.

The sun does not shine
for a few trees and flowers,
but for the wide world's joy.

Reflect upon your present blessings--
of which every man has many--
not on your past misfortunes,
of which all men have some.
--Charles Dickens

No  duty is more urgent
than that of returning thanks.

Blessed is the season
which engages the whole world in
a conspiracy of love.

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

Until one feels the spirit of Christmas,
there is no Christmas.
All else is outward display--
so much tinsel and decorations.
For it isn't the holly, it isn't the snow.
It isn't the tree, not the firelights glow.
It's the warmth that comes
to the hearts of men
when the Christmas spirit returns again.

Time was with most of us, when Christmas Day,
encircling all our limited world like a magic ring,
left nothing out for us to miss or seek; bound
together all our home enjoyments, affections, 
and hopes; grouped everything and everyone
'round the Christmas fire, and made the picture
shining in our bright young eyes complete.
Charles Dickens

Christmas is the day 
that holds time together
--Alexander

Joy to th world! The Lord is come:
Let earth receive her King!
Peace on Earth will come to stay
When we live Christmas every day.
--Helen Steiner Rice

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

Let us remember, the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide open heart  that thinks of others first. Underneath all the bungling, is the beating Christmas heart.

Whatever else be lost among the years, 
Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing: 
Whatever doubts assail us, or what fears,
Let us hold close one day, 
Remembering its poignant meaning,
For the hearts of men.
Let us get back our childlike faith again.
--Grace Noll Crowell 

A lovely thing about Christmas,
Is that it's compulsory, 
Like a thunderstorm.
And we all go through it together. 

Let mother Nature bless us this Christmas, with quietness of mind;
Teach us to be patient,
And always to be kind.

A Christmaas candle,
Is a lovely thing;
It makes no noise at all,
But softly gives itself away;
While quite unselfish,
It grows small.

Christmas waves a magic wand,
Over this world, 
And behold, Everything is softer, 
And more beautiful
--Norman Vincent Peale

Good news from heaventhe angels bring,
Glad tidings to the earth they sing:
To us this day a child is given,
To crown us with the joy of heaven
--Martin Luther

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there
Clement C. Moore, A visit from St St Nicolas

To Christmas I no more desire a rose,
Than wish a snow in Mays's new-fangled shows;
But like of each thing in the season grows.
--William Shakespeare

Love came down at Christmas;
Love all lovely, love devine; 
Love was born at Christmas,
Stars and angels gave the sign.

The merry family gathering-
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.

Heap on the wood!
The wind is chill;
But let it whistle as it will,
We'll keep our Christmas merry still.
--Sir Walter Scott

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

A Christmas gambol oft could cheer
The poor man's heart through half the year.
Sir Walter Scott

Christmas hath a darkness;
Brighter than the blazing noon;
Christmas hath a chillness
Warmer than the heat of June,
Christmas hath a beauty
Lovlier than the world can show;
For Christmas bringeth Jesus,
Brought for us so low.
-Christina Rosetti