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Shopping, wrapping, baking, and cleaning,

mistletoe hung, and the lights are gleaming.

Wish lists galore and cookies to bake,

cards to send; and decisions to make.

What the kids have asked for, you can’t recall,

should you get them just one gift or go for it all.

As you contemplate shopping, there arose such a clatter;

the cat jumped on the counter and knocked down the platter.

It had cookies and pastries and baked goods galore,

Now Spot is eating them all from the floor.

You yell at the cat, grab the dog, and look back,

as you look at the mess you see the platter is cracked.

It was a gift from your granny, so many years past,

it came from her granny, and it needed to last.

She told you to care for it and pass it along,

now it lies there broken, and it all feels so wrong.

Why are you stressing and trying so hard,

to make Christmas look like a Christmas card

that came from a scene of Norman Rockwell art,

how did you get here, how did it start?

You pour yourself a glass of good cheer

and contemplate the brand new year

that approaches much faster than ever before

and ponder the memories of Christmases yore.

Maybe Christmas is something that cannot be bought,

the true meaning of Christmas is something that ought

to be searched in the heart and not in a store.

The meaning of Christmas is so much more

than candles and music and cookies and such,

the meaning of Christmas is that God loved us so much.

He gave us His son, the lamb, light, and salvation,

to come to the Earth and save the nations.

So look to the heavens, give thanks, praise and glory

that God is the reason for the true Christmas story.