*~~ *~~* ~~ * ~~~ Reflections for the Day~~~ *~~ * ~~ * ~~ *
for Christmas Eve Day December 24, and Christmas Day December 25, 2007
AMERICA – We hear the beating of wings over Bethlehem and a light that is not of the sun or of the stars shines in the midnight sky. Let the beauty of the story take away all narrowness, all thought of formal creeds. Let it be remembered as a story that has happened again and again, to men of many different races, that has been expressed through many religions, that has been called by many different names. Time and space and language lay no limitations upon human brotherhood. ~New York Times, 25 December 1937, quoted in Quotations for Special Occasions by Maud van Buren, 1938, published by The H.W. Wilson Company, New York
A Gift to Everyone Here:
A Christmas candle is a lovely thing;
It makes no noise at all,
But softly gives itself away.
~Eva Logue
Christmas is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts. ~Janice Maeditere
Alan Smithee – 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
Amy – Wouldn't life be worth the living
Wouldn't dreams be coming true
If we kept the Christmas spirit
All the whole year through?
~Author Unknown
Country Bob – And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. ~Dr. Seuss
Glenn – Nothing's as mean as giving a little child something useful for Christmas. ~Kin Hubbard
Gloop – Christmas begins about the first of December with an office party and ends when you finally realize what you spent, around April fifteenth of the next year. ~P.J. O'Rourke, Modern Manners
Honor First – The earth has grown old with its burden of care,
But at Christmas it always is young.
~Phillips Brooks
Ish – The Supreme Court has ruled that they cannot have a nativity scene in Washington, D.C. This wasn't for any religious reasons. They couldn't find three wise men and a virgin. ~Jay Leno
Josh -- There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child. ~Erma Bombeck, I Lost Everything in the Post-Natal Depression
John Carragher – I love the Christmas-tide, and yet,
I notice this, each year I live;
I always like the gifts I get,
But how I love the gifts I give!
~Carolyn Wells
Ken Adams – 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!
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
KLP – The gladness of Christmas give you hope,
The warmth of Christmas grant you love.
~Author Unknown
Lady Lurksalot – The message of Christmas is that the visible material world is bound to the invisible spiritual world. ~Author Unknown
Laz – I can understand people simply fleeing the mountainous effort Christmas has become... but there are always a few saving graces and finally they make up for all the bother and distress. ~May Sarton
ManyMoose – At Christmas
A man is at his finest towards the finish of the year;
He is almost what he should be when the Christmas season's here;
Then he's thinking more of others than he's thought the months before,
And the laughter of his children is a joy worth toiling for.
He is less a selfish creature than at any other time;
When the Christmas spirit rules him he comes close to the sublime...
~Edgar Guest
Mph – Great little One! whose all-embracing birth
Lifts Earth to Heaven, stoops Heaven to Earth.
~Richard Crashaw
Neeka – Fail not to call to mind, in the course of the twenty-fifth of this month, that the Divinest Heart that ever walked the earth was born on that day; and then smile and enjoy yourselves for the rest of it; for mirth is also of Heaven's making. ~Leigh Hunt
Nhaynes – At Christmas play and make good cheer,
For Christmas comes but once a year
~Thomas Tusser
PatiBob –
Sing hey! Sing hey!
For Christmas Day;
Twine mistletoe and holly.
For a friendship glows
In winter snows,
And so let's all be jolly!
~Author Unknown
Peter Dierks – I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month. ~Harlan Miller
Richardred – Keep your Christmas-heart open all the year round. ~Jessica Archmint
Tim Fowler – Once again we find ourselves enmeshed in the Holiday Season, that very special time of year when we join with our loved ones in sharing centuries-old traditions such as trying to find a parking space at the mall. We traditionally do this in my family by driving around the parking lot until we see a shopper emerge from the mall, then we follow her, in very much the same spirit as the Three Wise Men, who 2,000 years ago followed a star, week after week, until it led them to a parking space. ~Dave Barry
Rudi – Perhaps the best Yuletide decoration is being wreathed in smiles. ~Author Unknown
Still Believing – O Christmas Sun! What holy task is thine!
To fold a world in the embrace of God!
~Guy Wetmore Carryl
Carolyn – Open your presents at Christmastime but be thankful year round for the gifts you receive. ~Lorinda Ruth Lowen
Andrea Bocelli and Luciano Pavarotti Medley
youtube.com
Pavarotti – Ava Maria
youtube.com
Christmas Eve, December 24, 2007
antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov
brevardcc.edu
spaceweather.com |
