Friday, December 25, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Anything that inspires unselfishness...
Anything that inspires unselfishness makes for our ennoblement. Christmas does that. I am all for Christmas.
--B.C. Forbes
Christmas is the time...
Christmas is the time to let your heart do the thinking.
--Patricia Clafford
Of course, this is the season...
Of course, this is the season to be jolly, but it is also a good time to be thinking about those who aren't.
--Helen Valentine
Monday, December 21, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Christmas is most truly Christmas...
Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most.
--Ruth Carter Stapleton
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
It is not even the beginning of Christmas...
It is not even the beginning of Christmas unless it is Christmas in the heart.
--Richard Roberts
Let us remember...
Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide open heart that thinks of others first.
--George Matthew Adams
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
The Art of Living
Christmas is not in tinsel and lights and outward show.
The secret lies in an inner glow.
It's lighting a fire inside the heart.
Good will and joy a vital part.
It's higher thought and a greater plan.
It's glorious dream in the soul of man.
--Wilfred A. Peterson
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Christmas is for children...
Christmas is for children. But it is for grown-ups too. Even if it is a headache, a chore, and a nightmare, it is a period of necessary defrosting of chilled hearts.
--Henry Vaughan
The Giving Trees
By Kathleen Dixon
I was a single parent of four small children, working at a minimum-wage job. Money was always tight, but we had a roof over our heads, food on the table, clothes on our backs, and, if not a lot, always enough. My kids told me that in those days they didn't know we were poor. They just thought Mom was cheap. I've always been glad about that.
It was Christmastime, and although there wasn't money for a lot of gifts, we planned to celebrate with church and family, parties and friends, drives downtown to see the Christmas lights, special dinners, and by decorating our home.
But the big excitement for the kids was the fun of Christmas shopping at the mall. They talked and planned for weeks ahead of time, asking each other and their grandparents what they wanted for Christmas. I dreaded it. I had saved $120 for presents to be shared by all five of us.
The big day arrived and we started out early. I gave each of the four kids a twenty-dollar bill and reminded them to look for gifts that cost about four dollars each. Then everyone scattered. We had two hours to shop; then we would meet back at the "Santa's workshop" display.
Back in the car driving home, everyone was in high Christmas spirits, laughing and teasing each other with hints and clues about what they had bought. My younger daughter, Ginger, who was about eight years old, was unusually quiet. I noted she had only one small, flat bag with her after her shopping spree. I could see enough through the plastic bag to tell that she had bought candy bars--fifty-cent candy bars! I was so angry. What did you do with that twenty dollar bill I gave you? I wanted to yell at her, but I didn't say anything until we got home. I called her into my bedroom and closed the door, ready to be angry again when I asked her what she had done with the money. This is what she told me:
"I was looking around, thinking of what to buy, and I stopped to read the little cards on one of the Salvation Army's 'Giving Trees.' One of the cards was for a little girl, four years old, and all she wanted for Christmas was a doll with clothes and a hairbrush. So I took the card off the tree and bought the doll and the hairbrush for her and took it to the Salvation Army booth.
"I only had enough money left to buy candy bars for us," Ginger continued. "But we have so much and she doesn't have anything." I never felt so rich as I did that day.
