The Meaning of Christmas..........

 "Christmas time!That man must be a misanthrope indeed! In whose heart something like a jovial feeling is not roused.In whose mind some pleasant associations are not awakened.....by the recurrence of Christmas! " - Charles Dickens ( Sketches by Boz)

 Found one of my favourite pieces of Christmas prose by Frances Joseph Spellman (1889-1967) Sixth Archbishop of New York from 1939 till  his death.....

 THE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS

Holiday and Holy Day, Christmas is more than a yule log, holly or tree. It is more than natural good cheer and the giving of gifts. 

 Christmas is even more than the feast of the home and of children, the feast of love and friendship.

 It is more than all of these together.Christmas is Christ, the Christ of justice and charity, of freedom and peace.

 The joy of Christmas is a joy that war cannot kill, for it is the joy of the soul and the soul cannot die.

 Poverty cannot prevent the joy of Christmas, for it is a joy no earthly wealth can give. Time cannot wither Christmas, for it belongs to eternity.

 The world cannot shatter it, for it is union with Him who has overcome the world.

 The leaders and peoples of nations must understand these fundamental truths if we are ever to have freedom and peace.

 Unless charters and pacts have a divine sanction,

 Unless "God is the Paramount ruler of the world"

 then again and again, as the waves upon the shore...

 must catastrophe follow catastrophe.

 Not until men lay aside greed, hatred, pride and the tyranny of evil passions...

 to travel the road that began at Bethlehem,

 will the Star of Christmas peace illuminate the world.

 Christmas is the Birthday of freedom...

 For it is in Him that makes all people free.....

 “December is full of the beauty of Light and love we can bring into our life.You can chose to be stressed or you can choose to let the small stuff go and be peaceful this Holiday season.
It really is a choice you make.”                                  ― Eileen Anglin

 Photographs 2017( Meaning of Christmas excerpt from "1000 Beautiful Things, 1948)

 “It was snowing. It was always snowing at Christmas. December, in my memory, is white as Lapland, though there were no reindeers. But there were cats.” 
― Dylan Thomas, A Child's Christmas in Wales