Merry Christmas Everyone

Merry Christmas Everyone!

The Night Before Christmas

By Clement Moore

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.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.

And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,

With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my head, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.

A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.

He had a broad face and a little round belly,

That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

The NRA's Response

I don’t normally post on the weekend, but the NRA’s response to the Newtown tragedy yesterday requires reaction from all of us.

Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president of the NRA said “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun” and he is calling for armed guards to be stationed at all schools across the nation.

What would that cost? Some estimates put it in the billions of dollars. It is unrealistic and cost prohibitive.

We are already a fear-based society given the freedoms relinquished and infringed upon by laws following 9/11 and the money spent protecting against terrorism domestically and fighting it overseas.

The NRA’s myopic response feeds into that fear. Mr. LaPierre’s words were dispassionate, self-serving, and cruel to the memory of all those killed with assault-style weapons over the last few years.

We need a national dialogue, not more gun solutions and a didactic diatribe from an organization that has manipulated, managed and lobbied Congress with pro-gun laws for decades.

The 2^nd amendment is sacred to our constitution and is an important component to our democracy. No one wants to eliminate the second amendment, but we do need a meaningful multi-logue on the kind of weapons the amendment guarantees.

Let us come together and reason, not out of sorrow and not out of self-interest, but out of wisdom for the greater good of all of us.

Messages at Christmas

There are many folks who can’t be home this Christmas. Too often a job or duty keeps families from being together. It’s not easy, but it happens.

Every year I watch the televised messages to loved ones from our military men and woman who are serving their country in far away lands. Local television stations air the video messages. One year I was moved by one message I saw and I wrote the following poem.

It is called, Away Again.

I am away this Christmas,

   but I will send my heart

to ring each bell you hear

   when distance keeps us part.

I can’t be with you now

   to sit there by the fire

and hold your hand in mine

   and fill my heart’s desire.

When you awake my love

   You’ll feel my Christmas touch.

Know it is my message -

   I love you very much.

I can’t be home this year

   to hear the season sing

nor be with you to smile

   at every little thing.

I can’t be home this Christmas

   to decorate the tree

So hang a stocking too

   from heart at hearth for me?

When morning comes at dawn,

   with every breath I take

I'll hear your sweetened laugh

   to take away my ache.

I can’t be home this Christmas,

   if only it weren’t so.

Hear my special Christmas wish -

   never again to go.

Thoughtful Words

In light of the sadness and sorrow our nation has been experiencing these last several days, I think the following poem by James Patrick Erdman is more than appropriate.

The poem is called Touch Hands.

“Ah friends, dear friends, as years go by, and heads grow gray. How fast the guests do go. Touch hands, touch hands with those that stay.

Strong hands to the weak, Old hands to young around the Christmas board, touch hands.

The false forget. The foe forgive. For every guest will go and every fire burn low and cabin, empty stands.

Forget! Forgive. For who may say that Christmas Day may ever come to host or guest again? Touch hands.”