Joy to the World

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 three hours, 'till his puzzler was sore.

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!

Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.

Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more!

Dr. Seuss


Charles Dickens once wrote:

I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.

Wouldn’t be wonderful if all of us no matter our station in life, our religious beliefs, or our taught prejudices think of everyone as our fellow passengers and realize how much we need each other. I personally believe that our only hope for the future is to engage as many as we can to join together to reestablish a sense of community and caring.

~~~

May Peace be your gift at Christmas and your blessing all year through!

~~~

This letter, found in the “Letters to Santa” box at the Post Office in Thompson Falls, Montana, embodies the spirit that we all should cultivate as we face the year ahead.



Dear Santa:

What do I ask this year? I have perused each ad in my mailbox, pored over the colorful ads in the newspaper. So many lovely things, and yet I need nothing.

I realize this as I walk up the hill on my strong legs. I can hear the air fill my lungs. I feel the cold on my cheeks. I smell the smoke of the fire that warms my home. I see the snow-capped mountains and the slate gray river peppered with fat geese.

I need nothing: there are people who love me. There are people who forgive my sometimes wretched temper and who touch me with loving hands. There are neighbors who smile in the store. There are shopkeepers who are tolerant when I don’t have enough money. There are kind faces in public places.

There is a fat pregnant cat who sneaks into my garage. Dogs and other cats share my hearth; I love to feel their fur with my feet. There are hawks that teach their young of flight, right there behind my house. There are deer that tiptoe into my yard and savor the fat apples in the snow.

Rows of glassed vegetables; green beans, tomatoes, peas and carrots color my pantry. And a rusty bucket of hand tools and neatly dried seeds promises next year’s riches.

I need nothing! Christmas promises already fulfilled redeem my foolish life, and occasionally I glimpse the feast that awaits me when this earthly one is done.

Today I discovered a hole in my jeans. I felt the December air slither down my leg. How mighty is the hand that sweeps the wind along the mountains. Santa, dear old soul, just give me another day like this one in my life.

~~~

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love!

Hamilton Wright Mabie

~~~

Love is the greatest gift. It brings warm light to the cold darkness and offers hope where before there was none.

Love changes lives. Even though it has no logical reason to be, love persists after all else has faded.

Love is lighter than the smallest snowflake and stronger than the mightiest army. With love, the impossible becomes real.

What is built and nurtured with love can withstand any challenge. Love understands, enables, protects and inspires.

The more love you give away, the more you will have. In love is the power of patience and the freedom of forgiveness.

On this day of Christmas giving, choose to offer the greatest, most meaningful and lasting gift you can give. With every word, with every thought, with every gesture, with every interaction, give love.

Ralph Marston

~~~

It is the personal thoughtfulness, the warm human awareness, the reaching out of the self to one's fellow man that makes giving worthy of the Christmas spirit."

Isabel Currier

~~~

Santa is caught up in a recount!

This is Santa and I just wanted to let you know that Christmas may be a little late this year. See after checking all the boxes and tallying them up, I found some problems with the results.

The first result showed:

428,534,120 Good

428,523,119 Bad

The second result showed:

428,534,118 Good

428,523,121 Bad

So you see, I can't, with good faith, go out and deliver presents while knowing I could have made a mistake. Maybe Little Johnny was good for once, then again, maybe not. So, I have enlisted the help of all my elves and the Mrs. To help do a recount. We hope to have this finished up by 5pm on the 24th of December, but there is a possibility that it might take longer. You see the tally cards were not quite clear to me, although I made them my-self, I forgot what they meant.

You know, Good...and Bad??? And the check marks I used were not all the same, some went left, some right, some were just a mark. some went through both boxes, and some didn't even have much of a mark on them. I leave it up to them to decide what I meant.

So if you wake up on Christmas morning, and there are no presents under your tree, at least you can tell the kids the story. Thank you for your patience and understanding in these times,

Sincerely

Santa

~~~

The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others' burdens, easing other's loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of Christmas."

W. C. Jones

~~~

Joy to the world and to all a very good night!

Ray


Stay well, do good work, and have fun.
Ray Mitchell
Indianapolis, Indiana

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