… CHARLES DICKENS
“For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than
at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.”
—A Christmas Carol
… LAURA INGALLS WILDER
Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love
of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in
spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.
… SALLY LLOYD-JONES
They caught their breath. Then quietly, they tiptoed inside.
They knelt on the dirt floor. They had heard about this Prom-
ised Child and now he was here. Heaven’s son. The Maker of the
Stars. A baby sleeping in his mother’s arms.
This baby would be like that bright star shining in the sky that
night. A Light to light up the whole world. Chasing away dark-
ness. Helping people to see.
And the darker the night got, the brighter the star would shine.
—The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name
… T.S. ELIOT
The child wonders at the Christmas Tree:
Let him continue in the spirit of wonder
At the Feast as an event not accepted as a pretext;
So that the glittering rapture, the amazement
Of the first-remembered Christmas Tree
So that the surprises, delight in new possessions
(Each one with its peculiar and exciting smell),
The expectation of the goose or turkey
And the expected awe on its appearance …
So that before the end, the eightieth Christmas
(By “eightieth” meaning whichever is last)
The accumulated memories of annual emotion
May be concentrated into a great joy
Which shall be also a great fear, as on the occasion
When fear came upon every soul:
Because the beginning shall remind us of the end
And the first coming of the second coming.
—The Cultivation of Christmas Trees
