each year the
christmas spirit
dies a bit

and this year
it killed us a-
-long with it

Merry, merry Christmas, All the blessings poured unto you,
I wrote this to say the words I don’t,
because this is so new,
Hannah you are so beautiful, That you’d rival Aphrodite,
a gorgeous brain and personality, are signs that you are mighty,
You’re quiet and mysterious, yet so gentle and so kind,
I often think about you, and ponder with my mind,
Share with me your secrets, and all your mischievous schemes,  
What are your hobbies and interests, please tell me all your dreams,
the holidays are for happiness, family and true love,
you have no idea how much I’ve prayed, to the one that’s up above,
you ask what I want for Christmas, and all I can think is you,
I wish I had the nerve to say, you amaze me in all you do,
I’m terrible at texting, I know what a shame,
but I like you very much, and I hope you feel the same,
I’m quick to the finish, but I’m slow at the start,
so please show me the way, and the key to your heart.

Our Holiday Season's fast upon us,
Ribbons and bows are holding sway,
But I recall all the fuss
With Christmas just two weeks away.

Yes, it's been a year already
Since being swept-up in the frenzy;
Singing Silent Night and Silver Bells,
And awake until the last Noel.

But Yules ago, when just a boy,
Not toying in childish play,
Yet wanting more than I could say.
With Christmas still two weeks away.

You'd think that on the twentieth,
I'd get a better sense of it,
Christmas felt two weeks away.

Come December twenty-first,
I felt I was Christmas cursed;
For it didn't matter what who'd say,
Christmas still felt weeks away.

At dawn on the twenty-second,
The smell of pine seduced and beckoned;
Beneath the needles I spied presents;
The outline of a gift-wrapped sleigh.
I cursed, “Is Christmas still two weeks away?”

The day before the twenty-fourth,
I couldn't see the wooden floor,
Gifts sprawled to the front door.
I crossed my fingers,
Wished and prayed,
But Christmas felt two weeks away.

The twenty-fourth languished long and slow...
The light would fade,
The night would glow,
Off to Midnight Mass we'd go.
We'd press palms and pray for snow,
Then genuflect and run for home.

Although it feels two weeks away,
I've much to do
That cannot wait.
Thank God tomorrow's not Christmas Day.
Or is IT just two hours  away?

Remember Christmas shopping?
I mean in stores full of shoppers
- there was music in the air and
some shops had free hot-chocolate
while others offered hot cinnamon
apple-cider and ginger-reindeer cookies

Parents would have to wait outside stores
because the whole expedition was surreptitious
- you shielded your gift bags from prying eyes.
Siblings would offer to help you carry your loot
- as if any respectable kid would fall for THAT.

School choirs competed for applause, caroling in food courts.
A line of excited children would spark my older brother,
Brice, to smirk and tease, “Are you sitting on Santa’s lap this year?”

There was a dazzling neon candy-cane roller-coaster
on the roof of Macy’s called “the pink pig” that we’d
squeeze into - even though it was made for little kids.

I was always in charge of checking the calendar so we’d remember
when my sister would be flying home for college break.

Have a careful Christmas - holly jolly as it can be.
Make memories that will last forever - like favorite songs.

Please, bright holidays - summon irresistible cheer
that dancing souls can celebrate with free hearts.

Let hallow'd observances pass with seasonal soundtracks, tinsel-prismed cascades of multicolored lights and evergreen scents.

Too often these days, our joys seem hostage held
by some fearsome heaviness, like that of a guilty thing.

Give wholesome nights back their power to charm,
enjoy festive feelings, and pass those, as gifts, on to others.

The scene opens with a single snowflake falling onto the top of a large sturdy tree.  The vast open valley spreads far and wide, as this beautiful tree stands on a hill next to a soft and quiet stream.  Surrounding its trunk and ground digging roots are twelve little saplings.  They sit next to their mother, as if listening to one of her tales of long ago,
of years long gone by of an earlier snow.

The snowflake just settles on a leaf at her top,
and followed by more so gently they drop.
There's an old house not far 'cross the stream's other side,
filled with music and lights and sweet fragrance inside.
The voices are carried with carols of joy.
As momma tells to her children of their history.
A seedling like them a long time ago,
loved and enriched, nourished to grow.
She told of the tales of their home's Christmas Tree,
on a hill where she stood.  Part of one big family.

"Momma, tell us that story again.
We'd love to hear it forever.
Cause truly this story, it hasn't an end,
'long as we remember eachother."

Christmas has been trending and
I chose to play into the parasocial violence,
with no salt or brakes physically and emotionally,
- the holidays - lush and fresh, just hit different.

When I see the lights, the smiles, and get my hugs
I want to cry and throw up from joy at the same time.
The holidays make me believe in love. I don’t care.

What we learn, and see, then believe,
Is how we live our life each day,
Our life, a maze of situations,
Our thought’s, actions, and ways,
Decide, if we move forward,
Change directions or stay.
Our experiences, from our past,
Along with watching others, work, and play,
Creates, who we are, along with setting up,
Our home where we stay.
We are each on an individual, limited tour,
A piece of this unlimited universe,
Your spirit inside, honest advice, along your way,
My soul remembering, the first Christmas day,
Our savior Jesus Christ, born, animals in the manger,
Sharing their bedding, a bright star, guiding the way,
Everything, peaceful, calm, strangers gathered.,
Listening to feeling, the message, in their souls,
True, positive thoughts, guidance, for all of us,
They were all, lit up, by the guiding light,
Shining on everyone’s, face, a gleam in each eye.
We are losing touch with the true meaning of Christmas.
Still the best wireless communication today,
Lay down your phone, stop and say a prayer,
Thanks for the first Christmas day.

The Original: Tom Maxwell © 12/17/2021AD