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[2]The purpose and cause of the incarnation was that He might illuminate the world by His wisdom and excite it to the love of Himself. ~ Peter AbelardQuotes regarding Christmas (listed alphabetically by author):
- The purpose and cause of the incarnation was that He might illuminate the world by His wisdom and excite it to the love of Himself.
- Peter Abelard, as quoted in "The Abelardian Doctrine Of The Atonement" (1892), published in Doctrine and Development : University Sermons (1898) by Hastings Rashdall, p. 138.
- Ach, könnte nur dein Herz zu einer Krippe werden,
Gott würde noch einmal ein Kind auf dieser Erden.
- [Could but your heart become a manger for his birth,
God would again become a child upon this earth.]
- Angelus Silesius, Der Cherubinischer Wandersmann 2:53
- [Could but your heart become a manger for his birth,
- Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide–open–heart that thinks of others first. The birth of the baby Jesus stands as the most significant event in all history, because it has meant the pouring into a sick world the healing medicine of love which has transformed all manner of hearts for almost two thousand years... Underneath all the bulging bundles is this beating Christmas heart.
- George Matthew Adams in "The Christmas Heart".
- Christmas is over and Business is Business
- I have often thought, says Sir Roger, it happens very well that Christmas should fall in the Middle of winter.
- Joseph Addison in The Spectator (January 1712).
- The rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting...
- Christmas Eve was a night of song that wrapped itself about you like a shawl. But it warmed more than your body. It warmed your heart...filled it, too, with melody that would last forever.
- Bess Streeter Aldrich in "Song of Years".
- Let's be naughty and save Santa the trip.
- Gary Allan
- Wretched excess is an unfortunate human trait that turns a perfectly good idea such as Christmas into a frenzy of last-minute shopping.
- Jon Anderson
- Christmas gift suggestions:
To your enemy, forgiveness.
To an opponent, tolerance.
To a friend, your heart.
To a customer, service.
To all, charity.
To every child, a good example.
To yourself, respect.
- Oren Arnold
- Don't expect too much of Christmas Day. You can't crowd into it any arrears of unselfishness and kindliness that may have accrued during the past twelve months.
- Oren Arnold
- Remember This December,
That love weighs more than gold!
- Josephine Dodge Daskam Bacon
- The Christmas parties were orgies of drinking and singing and groping and pawing. Cartoon staffers invested their own money in preparatory liquor.
- Joseph Barbera
- "Christmas! The very word brings joy to our hearts. No matter how we may dread the rush, the long Christmas lists for gifts and cards to be bought and given - when Christmas Day comes there is still the same warm feeling we had as children, the same warmth that enfolds our hearts and our homes. "
- Joan Winmill Brown
- "The Church does not superstitiously observe days, merely as days, but as memorials of important facts. Christmas might be kept as well upon one day of the year as another; but there should be a stated day for commemorating the birth of our Savior, because there is danger that what may be done on any day, will be neglected."
- Samuel Johnson
- In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it 'Christmas' and went to church; the Jews called it 'Hanukkah' and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say 'Merry Christmas!' or 'Happy Hanukkah!' or (to the atheists) 'Look out for the wall!'
- Dave Barry in "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide".
- Once again we find ourselves enmeshed in the Holiday Season, that very special time of year when we join with our loved ones in sharing centuries-old traditions such as trying to find a parking space at the mall. We traditionally do this in my family by driving around the parking lot until we see a shopper emerge from the mall, then we follow her, in very much the same spirit as the Three Wise Men, who 2,000 years ago followed a star, week after week, until it led them to a parking space.
- Dave Barry
- Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice.
- Dave Barry
- Christmas itself may be called into question, If carried so far it creates indigestion.
- Ralph Bergengren
- I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
- And is it true? And is it true,
This most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained-glass window's hue,
A Baby in an in ox's stall?
The Maker of the stars and sea
Became a Child on earth for me?
- Sir John Betjeman (1954).
- This time of year means being kind
to everyone we meet,
To share a smile with strangers
we may pass along the street.
- Betty Black in "This Time of Year".
- Christmas, here again.
Let us raise a loving cup:
Peace on earth, goodwill to men,
And make them do the washing up
- There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child.
- Erma Bombeck in I Lost Everything in the Post-Natal Depression.
- The Christmas spirit — love — changes hearts and lives.
- Pat Boone
- [The Christmas story] is as simple as was the Man himself and His teaching. As simple as the Sermon on the Mount which still remains as the ultimate basis … of the belief of free men of good will everywhere.
- Hal Borland in "The Wonder".
- Isn't it funny that at Christmas something in you gets so lonely for — I don't know what exactly, but it's something that you don't mind so much not having at other times.
- Kate L. Bosher
- Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away
like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.
The good you do for others is good you do yourself.
- Norman W. Brooks, "Let Every Day Be Christmas".
- Christmas day is a day of joy and charity. May God make you very rich in both.
This, then, is the marvel to mortals revealed.
When the silvery trumpets of Christmas have pealed,
That mankind are the children of God. ~ Phillips Brooks*The earth has grown old with its burden of care
But at Christmas it always is young,
The heart of the jewel burns lustrous and fair
And its soul full of music breaks the air,
When the song of angels is sung.
- Phillips Brooks.
- The feet of the humblest may walk in the field
Where the feet of the Holiest trod,
This, then, is the marvel to mortals revealed.
When the silvery trumpets of Christmas have pealed,
That mankind are the children of God.
- Phillips Brooks.
- Christmas has lost its meaning for us because we have lost the spirit of expectancy. We cannot prepare for an observance. We must prepare for an experience.
- Handel H. Brown
- Christmas! The very word brings joy to our hearts. No matter how we may dread the rush, the long Christmas lists for gifts and cards to be bought and given — when Christmas Day comes there is still the same warm feeling we had as children, the same warmth that enfolds our hearts and our homes.
- Joan Winmill Brown
- And so, this Christmas season may our hearts with gladness glow, As we read the blessed story That took place so long ago.
- Alpha L. Buntain in "The First Christmas".
- May joy be yours today,
And radiantly abide
Within your heart until
Another Christmastide.
- Gail Brook Burket in "May Joy Be Yours Today".
[3]We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the word seemingly most indifferent. For this is still the time God chooses.... ~ Taylor Caldwell*I am not alone at all, I thought. I was never alone at all. And that, of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the word seemingly most indifferent. For this is still the time God chooses...
- There has been only one Christmas — the rest are anniversaries.
- W.J. Cameron
- Christmas is the gentlest, loveliest festival of the revolving year — and yet, for all that, when it speaks, its voice has strong authority.
- W.J. Cameron
- Christmas is a holiday that persecutes the lonely, the frayed, and the rejected
- Jimmy Cannon
- Remember, if Christmas isn't found in your heart, you won't find it under the tree
- Charlotte Carpenter
- O Christmas Sun! What holy task is thine!
To fold a world in the embrace of God!
- Guy Wetmore Carryl
[4]When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs? ~ G. K. Chesterton*Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind.
- Mary Ellen Chase
- Variant: Christmas is not a date. It is a state of mind.
- Christmas is the one time of year when people of all religions come together to worship Jesus Christ.
- "Bart Simpson" (voiced by Nancy Cartwright).
- The Christ-child lay on Mary's lap,
His hair was like a light.
(O weary, weary was the world,
But here is all aright.)The Christ-child stood at Mary's knee,
His hair was like a crown,
And all the flowers looked up at Him
And all the stars looked down.
- When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?
- Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the scepticism of a sceptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no child-like faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished. Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world. You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
- Let the children have their night of fun and laughter, let the gifts of Father Christmas delight their play. Let us grown-ups share to the full in their unstinted pleasures.... Sir Winston Churchill
- Christmas is a time to expand our giving encompassing the friendless and needy … near and far. Christmas is sharing.
- Patricia Claffor in "Christmas".
- Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.
- Calvin Coolidge, reported in Canfield, Jack; Mark Victor Hansen, Patty Hansen, Irene Dunlap (2002). Chicken soup for the soul Christmas treasury for kids. HCI. pp. Page 1. ISBN 0757300383.
- God rest ye, little children; let nothing you afright,
For Jesus Christ, your Saviour, was born this happy night;
Along the hills of Galilee the white blocks sleeping lay,
When Christ, the child of Nazareth, was born on Christmas day.
- Dinah Craik in "Christmas Carol," St. 2.
- Great little One! whose all-embracing birth
Lifts Earth to Heaven, stoops Heaven to Earth.
- Richard Crashaw
- Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won't make it "white".
- Bing Crosby
[5]Whatever else be lost among the years, Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing... ~ Grace Noll Crowell*Whatever else be lost among the years,
Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing:
Whatever doubts assail us, or what fears,
Let us hold close one day, remembering
Its poignant meaning for the hearts of men.
Let us get back our childlike faith again.
- Grace Noll Crowell
- 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
- Christmas isn't just a day, it's a frame of mind.
- Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own fire-side and his quiet home!
- Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836).
- Sometimes paraphrased as: Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home!
- I do come home at Christmas. We all do, or we all should. We all come home, or ought to come home, for a short holiday — the longer, the better — from the great boarding-school, where we are forever working at our arithmetical slates, to take, and give a rest.
- Charles Dickens in "A Christmas Tree".
- It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself
- Charles Dickens.
- Once upon a time — of all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eve — old Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house.
- Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol.
- A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!" cried a cheerful voice. "Bah!" said Scrooge. "Humbug!"
- Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol.
- "At this festive season of the year, Mr Scrooge," said the gentleman, taking up a pen, "it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. … We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices."
- Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol.
- "Out upon merry Christmas! What's Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer... If I could work my will," said Scrooge indignantly, "every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' upon his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!"
- "Ebeneezer Scrooge " in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
- I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round — apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that — as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant 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. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!'
- Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol.
- Somehow he gets thoughtful sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant for them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.
- Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol.
- Then Bob proposed: "A Merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us!" Which all his family re-echoed. "God bless us every one!" said Tiny Tim, the last of all.
- Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol.
- I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.
- "Ebeneezer Scrooge", in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
- A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world!
- Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol.
- It was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!
- Charles Dickens on Scrooge after his visitations, in A Christmas Carol.
- Time was with most of us, when Christmas Day, encircling all our limited world like a magic ring, left nothing out for us to miss or seek; bound together all our home enjoyments, affections, and hopes; grouped everything and everyone round the Christmas fire, and make the little picture shining in our bright young eyes, complete.
- Charles Dickens.
- Christmas is a time when everybody wants his past forgotten and his present remembered. What I don't like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day.
- Something about an old-fashioned Christmas is hard to forget.
- A song was heard at Christmas
To wake the midnight sky:
A saviour's birth, and peace on earth,
And praise to God on high.
The angels sang at Christmas
With all the hosts above,
And still we sing the newborn King
His glory and his love.
- Timothy Dudley-Smith in "A Song was Heard at Christmas".
- It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.
- W.T. Ellis.
- Christmas is an awfulness that compares favorably with the great London plague and fire of 1665-66. No one escapes the feelings of mortal dejection, inadequacy, frustration, loneliness, guilt and pity. No one escapes feeling used by society, by religion, by friends and relatives, by the utterly artifical responsiblities of extending false greetings, sending banal cards, reciprocating unsolicated gifts, going to dull parties, putting up with acquaintances and family one avoids all the rest of the year...in short, of being brutalized by a 'holiday' that has lost virtually all of its original meanings and has become a merchandising ploy for color tv set manufacturers and ravagers of the woodlands.
- Harlan Ellison in "No Offense Intended, But Fuck Xmas!" (1972), The Harlan Ellison Hornbook.
- God grant you the light in Christmas which is faith;
the warmth of Christmas, which is love;
the radiance of Christmas, which is purity;
the righteousness of Christmas, which is justice;
the belief in Christmas, which is truth;
the all of Christmas, which is Christ...
- Wilda English
- Instead of being a time of unusual behavior, Christmas is perhaps the only time in the year when people can obey their natural impulses and express their true sentiments without feeling self-conscious and, perhaps, foolish. Christmas, in short, is about the only chance a man has to be himself.
- Francis C. Farley
- Some businessmen are saying this could be the greatest Christmas ever. I always thought that the first one was.
- Art Fettig
- I'd like a stocking made for a giant,
And a meeting house full of toys,
Then I'd go out in a happy hunt
For the poor little girls and boys;
Up the street and down the street,
And across and over the town,
I'd search and find them everyone,
Before the sun went down.
- Eugene Field in "A Christmas Wish".
- Forster I do like Christmas on the whole... In its clumsy way, it does approach Peace and Goodwill. But it is clumsier every year.
- How many observe Christ's birthday! How few, his precepts! O! 'tis easier to keep holidays than commandments.
- Christmas in Bethlehem. The ancient dream: a cold, clear night made brilliant by a glorious star, the smell of incense, shepherds and wise men falling to their knees in adoration of the sweet baby, the incarnation of perfect love.
- Lucinda Franks.
- Christmas to a child is the first terrible proof that to travel hopefully is better than to arrive
- Stephen Fry
- … and now Christmas is for shoppin' and the shoppin' god is everything ...
- Matthew Good - 'The Future Is X-Rated', from his 1999 album, 'Beautiful Midnight'
- I sometimes think we expect too much of Christmas Day. We try to crowd into it the long arrears of kindliness and humanity of the whole year. As for me, I like to take my Christmas a little at a time, all through the year. And thus I drift along into the holidays — let them overtake me unexpectedly — waking up some find morning and suddenly saying to myself: "Why, this is Christmas Day!"
- David Grayson
- Not to open the hunting season on the pretext that there is no game would be as if one gave up celebrating Christmas because there was not enough snow to go by sleigh to midnight Mass.
- Maurice Grimaud
- A man is at his finest towards the finish of the year;
He is almost what he should be when the Christmas season's here.
Then he's thinking more of others than
he's thought the months before,
And the laughter of his children is a joy
worth toiling for.
He is less a selfish creature than at any
other time;
When the Christmas spirit rules him, he
comes close to the sublime.
- Edgar Guest
- At Christmas
A man is at his finest towards the finish of the year;
He is almost what he should be when the Christmas season's here;
Then he's thinking more of others than he's thought the months before,
And the laughter of his children is a joy worth toiling for.
He is less a selfish creature than at any other time;
When the Christmas spirit rules him he comes close to the sublime...
- Edgar Guest
- Time always seems long to the child who is waiting — for Christmas, for next summer, for becoming a grownup: long also when he surrenders his whole soul to each moment of a happy day
- There's a little vanity chair that Charlie gave me the first Christmas we knew each other. I'll not be parting with that, nor our bed-the four-poster — I'll be needing that to die in.
- Helen Hayes.
- A severed foot is the ultimate stocking stuffer.
- Oh! lovely voices of the sky
Which hymned the Saviour's birth,
Are ye not singing still on high,
Ye that sang, "Peace on earth"?
- The magi, as you know, were wise men — wonderfuly wise men who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents.
- Do give books — religious or otherwise — for Christmas. They're never fattening, never sinful, and permanently personal.
- Lenore Hershey
- My first copies of Treasure Island and Huckleberry Finn still have some blue-spruce needles scattered in the pages. They smell of Christmas still.
- I dreamed it was Christmas Eve,
and while waiting for a green light I noticed the manger scene on the church lawn.
It's all so overwhelming, this Christmas business, I thought.
The shopping and singing and partying and gift-wrapping and Santa Claus and Jesus.
I feel wonderful then guilty then joyful then confused.
God help me, I thought.
And the light changed, and the baby in the manger smiled.
- Joe Hickman
- Roses are reddish
Violets are bluish
If it weren't for Christmas
We'd all be Jewish.
- The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.
- Burton Hillis in Better Homes and Gardens.
- For many of us, sadly, the spirit of Christmas is "hurry". And yet, eventually, the hour comes when the rushing ends and the race against the calendar mercifully comes to a close. It is only now perhaps that we truly recognize the spirit of Christmas. It is not a matter of days or weeks, but of centuries — nearly twenty of them now since that holy night in Bethlehem. Regarded in this manner, the pre-Christmas rush may do us greater service than we realize. With all its temporal confusion, it may just help us to see that by contrast, Christmas itself is eternal.
- Burton Hills.
- Christmas will always be in the hearts of God's children everywhere as they extend a helping hand to a friend in need … as they go about reflecting God's goodness in the little quiet and unheralded expressions of a loving heart … as they share the light of the world with those who live in darkness .
- Jane Hillsmen in "Christmas".
- The happiness and love on this one day
Bring thoughts which warm and cheer.
May we keep Christmas in our hearts
Through every day of all the year.
- Gertrude B. Holman in "The Little Things at Christmas".
- It comes every year and will go on forever. And along with Christmas belong the keepsakes and the customs. Those humble, everyday things a mother clings to, and ponders, like Mary in the secret spaces of her heart...
- Marjorie Holmes.
- The Christmas season has come to mean the period when the public plays Santa Claus to the merchants.
- John Andrew Holmes.
- My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?
- Nothing's as mean as giving a little child something useful for Christmas.
- Kin Hubbard
- Fail not to call to mind, in the course of the twenty-fifth of this month, that the Divinest Heart that ever walked the earth was born on that day; and then smile and enjoy yourselves for the rest of it; for mirth is also of Heaven's making.
- Leigh Hunt
- Christmas! 'Tis the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.
- There is nothing in England that exercises a more delightful spell over my imagination than the lingerings of the holiday customs and rural games of former times. They recall the pictures my fancy used to draw in the May morning of life, when as yet I only knew the world through books, and believed it to be all that poets had painted it; and they bring with them the flavour of those honest days of yore, in which, perhaps with equal fallacy, I am apt to think the world was more home-bred, social, and joyous than at present.
- Washington Irving
- For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulders; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
- Isaiah 9:6.
- Mankind is a great, an immense family... This is proved by what we feel in our hearts at Christmas.
- Pope John XXIII
- The Church does not superstitiously observe days, merely as days, but as memorials of important facts. Johnson Christmas might be kept as well upon one day of the year as another; but there should be a stated day for commemorating the birth of our Saviour, because there is danger that what may be done on any day, will be neglected.
- What's going on here is a redefinition of Christmas as a time of family celebration rather than as a time of the community faithful celebrating the birth of the savior...There is a risk that we will lose one more of our Christian rituals, one that's at the heart of our faith.
- Robert Johnston
- The joy of brightening other lives, bearing 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.
[6]"The very best way to send an idea is to wrap it up in a person." That was what happened at Christmas. The idea of divine love was wrapped up in a Person. ~ Halford E. Luccock*God put Santa Claus on earth to remind us that Christmas is 'sposed to be a happy time.
- A lovely thing about Christmas is that it's compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together.
- Garrison Keillor
- The only real blind person at Christmas-time is he who has not Christmas in his heart.
- The star of Bethlehem was a star of hope that led the wise men to the fulfillment of their expectations, the success of their expedition. Nothing in this world is more fundamental for success in life than hope, and this star pointed to our only source for true hope: Jesus Christ.
- D. James Kennedy in "Following the Star" from Christmas Stories for the Heart.
- It was the Yuletide, that men call Christmas, though they know in their hearts it is older than Bethlehem and Babylon, older than Memphis and Mankind.
- H.P. Lovecraft in "The Festival".
- A scientist said, making a plea for exchange scholarships between nations, "The very best way to send an idea is to wrap it up in a person." That was what happened at Christmas. The idea of divine love was wrapped up in a Person.
- Halford E. Luccock, in "Whoops! It's Christmas", published in The Abbott Christmas Book (1960) by Herbert W. Luthin
- Ah! dearest Jesus, Holy Child,
Make thee a bed, soft, undefiled,
Within my heart, that it may be
A quiet chamber kept for thee.
- Martin Luther
- Call a truce, then to our labors — let us feast with friends and neighbors And be merry as the custom of our caste; For if "faint and forced the laughter," and if sadness follow after, We are richer by one mocking Christmas past
- One good thing about Christmas shopping — it toughens you for the January sales.
- Grace Kriley
- Christmas is the time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell government what they want and their kids pay for it.
- Richard Lamm
- Even as an adult I find it difficult to sleep on Christmas Eve. Yuletide excitement is a potent caffeine, no matter your age.
- Carrie Latet
- Now, the essence, the very spirit of Christmas is that we first make believe a thing is so, and lo, it presently turns out to be so
- Stephen Leacock
- On Christmas day you can't get sore, Your fellow man you must adore, There's time to cheat him all the more The other three hundred and sixty-four
A very Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear... ~ John Lennon and Yoko Ono*A very Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear.
War is over, if you want it
War is over now.
- John Lennon and Yoko Ono in "Happy Xmas (War is over)" (1971).
- The Supreme Court has ruled that they cannot have a nativity scene in Washington, D.C. This wasn't for any religious reasons. They couldn't find three wise men and a virgin.
- Late on a sleepy, star-spangled night, those angels peeled back the sky just like you would tear open a sparkling Christmas present. Then, with light and joy pouring out of Heaven like water through a broken dam, they began to shout and sing the message that baby Jesus had been born. The world had a Savior! The angels called it "Good News, " and it was.
- Larry Libby in "The Angels Called it Good News" from Christmas Stories for the Heart.
- Except the Christ be born again tonight
In dreams of all men, saints and sons of shame,
The world will never see his kingdom bright.
- Vachel Lindsay
- To celebrate the heart of Christmas is to forget ourselves in the service of others.
- Henry C. Link
- A Christmas candle is a lovely thing;
It makes no noise at all,
But softly gives itself away;
While quite unselfish, it grows small.
- Eva K. Logue
- I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
- Off to one side sits a group of shepherds. They sit silently on the floor, perhaps perplexed, perhaps in awe, no doubt in amazement. Their night watch had been interrupted by an explosion of light from heaven and a symphony of angels. God goes to those who have time to hear him — and so on this cloudless night he went to simple shepherds.
- Max Lucado in "The Arrival" from Christmas Stories for the Heart.
- Were it not for the shepherds, there would have been no reception. And were it not for a group of stargazers, there would have been no gifts.
- Max Lucado (God Came Near).
- And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men...
- Luke 2:9-14.
- Your friendship is a glowing ember
Through the year; and each December
From its warm and living spark
We kindle flame against the dark
And with its shining radiance light
Our tree of faith on Christmas night.
- Thelma J. Lund
- Good news from heaven the angels bring,
Glad tidings to the earth they sing:
To us this day a child is given,
To crown us with the joy of heaven.
- There are some people who want to throw their arms round you just because it's Christmas, there are other people who want to strangle you just because its Christmas
- Robert Lynd
- Have you any old grudges you would like to pay,
Any wrongs laid up from a bygone day?
Gather them now and lay them away
When Christmas comes.
Hard thoughts are heavy to carry, my friend,
And life is short from beginning to end;
Be kind to yourself, leave nothing to mend
When Christmas comes.
- William Lytle in "When Christmas Comes".
- Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love!
- Hamilton Wright Mabie
- I once bought my kids a set of batteries for Christmas with a note on it saying, toys not included.
- Bernard Manning
- May we not "spend" Christmas or "observe" Christmas, but rather "keep" it.
- Peter Marshall
- The merry family gatherings —
The old, the very young;
The strangely lovely way they
Harmonize in carols sung.
For Christmas is tradition time —
Traditions that recall
The precious memories down the years,
The sameness of them all.
- Helen Lowrie Marshall
- We should try to hold on to the Christmas spirit, not just one day a year, but all 365.
- Mary Martin
- Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
- Matthew 2:1 - 2.
- From Home to home, and heart to heart, from one place to another… The warmth and joy of Christmas, brings us closer to each other...
- Emily Matthews.
- Best of all, Christmas means a spirit of love, a time when the love of God and the love of our fellow men should prevail over all hatred and bitterness, a time when our thoughts and deeds and the spirit of our lives manifest the presence of God.
- George F. McDougall
- There is no ideal Christmas; only the one Christmas you decide to make as a reflection of your values, desires, affections, traditions.
- Bill McKibben in Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case For a More Joyful Christmas.
- This is Christmas: not the tinsel, not the giving and receiving, not even the carols, but the humble heart that receives anew the wondrous gift, the Christ.
- Frank McKibben
- If "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts, wouldn't it be a Merry Christmas?
- Don Meredith
- I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month.
- Harlan Miller in Better Homes and Gardens.
- Probably the reason we all go so haywire at Christmas time with the endless unrestrained and often silly buying of gifts is that we don't quite know how to put our love into words.
- Harlan Miller in Better Homes and Gardens.
- The outdoor Christmas lights, green and red and gold and blue and twinkling, remind me that most people are that way all year round — kind, generous, friendly and with an occasional moment of ecstasy. But Christmas is the only time they dare reveal themselves.
- Harlan Miller in Better Homes and Gardens.
- Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!
Alles schläft; einsam wacht
Nur das traute heilige Paar.
Holder Knab im lockigten Haar,
Schlafe in himmlischer Ruh!
- Silent night! Holy night!
All are sleeping, alone and awake
Only the intimate holy pair,
Lovely boy with curly hair,
Sleep in heavenly peace!
- Josef Mohr, original German lyrics and translation of Stille Nacht (Silent Night). These have traditionally been altered to :
- Silent night! Holy night!
- Silent night! Holy night!
All is calm, all is bright
round yon Virgin Mother and Child,
Holy infant so tender and mild,
sleep in Heavenly peace!
- Silent night! Holy night!
- It is the one season of the year when we can lay aside all gnawing worry, indulge in sentiment without censure, assume the carefree faith of childhood, and just plain "have fun." Whether they call it Yuletide, Noel, Weinachten, or Christmas, people around the earth thirst for its refreshment as the desert traveller for the oasis.
- D.D. Monroe
- 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring — not even a mouse:
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
- Clement C. Moore
- Christmas is the time for looking ahead courageously through the gates of the swiftly approaching new year … of resolving that the coming months will reflect a kinder, more forgiving and less heedless person than mirrored in the past.
- Ellen V. Morgan in "Christmas is the Time".
- Let Christmas not become a thing
Merely of merchant's trafficking,
Of tinsel, bell and holly wreath
And surface pleasure, but beneath
The childish glamour, let us find
Nourishment for heart and mind.
Let us follow kinder ways
Through our teeming human maze,
And help the age of peace to come.
- Madeline Morse
- People can't concentrate properly on blowing other people to pieces if their minds are poisoned by thoughts suitable to the twenty-fifth of December.
- Christmas is a time when you get homesick — even when you're home.
- Carol Nelson
[7]Let the beauty of the story take away all narrowness, all thought of formal creeds. Let it be remembered as a story that has happened again and again, to men of many different races, that has been expressed through many religions, that has been called by many different names. Time and space and language lay no limitations upon human brotherhood.*We hear the beating of wings over Bethlehem and a light that is not of the sun or of the stars shines in the midnight sky. Let the beauty of the story take away all narrowness, all thought of formal creeds. Let it be remembered as a story that has happened again and again, to men of many different races, that has been expressed through many religions, that has been called by many different names. Time and space and language lay no limitations upon human brotherhood.
- The New York Times (25 December 1937).
- Next to a circus there ain't nothing that packs up and tears out faster than the Christmas spirit.
- Only in souls the Christ is brought to birth, And there He lives and dies.
- Alfred Noyes.
- Christmas begins about the first of December with an office party and ends when you finally realize what you spent, around April fifteenth of the next year.
- P.J. O'Rourke
- There is a remarkable breakdown of taste and intelligence at Christmastime. Mature, responsible grown men wear neckties made of holly leaves and drink alcoholic beverages with raw egg yolks and cottage cheese in them.
- As you chose the lowly, the outcasts, and the poor to receive the greatest news the world had ever known, so may we worship you in meekness of heart. May we also remember our brothers and sisters less fortunate than ourselves in this season of giving. Amen.
- Karen L. Oberst (Light Came at Christmas: Services for the Advent Wreath).
- Christmas is not just a day, an event to be observed and speedily forgotten. It is a spirit which should permeate every part of our lives.
- William Parks in Missions.
- Forasmuch as the feast of the nativity of Christ, Easter, Whitsuntide, and other festivals, commonly called holy-days, have been heretofore superstitiously used and observed; be it ordained, that the said feasts, and all other festivals, commonly called holy-days, be no longer observed as festivals; any law, statute, custom, constitution, or canon, to the contrary in anywise not withstanding.
- Puritan legislation in the British Parliament, abolishing the festival celebration of Christmas and other holidays (June 1647); as quoted in The History of the Puritans (1837) by Daniel Neal
- Even before Christmas has said Hello, it's saying 'Buy Buy'.
- Robert Paul
- You know you're getting old, when Santa starts looking younger.
- Robert Paul
- Christmas is the season of joy, of holiday greetings exchanged, of gift-giving,and of families united.
- Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.
- Norman Vincent Peale
- I hear that in many places something has happened to Christmas; that it is changing from a time of merriment and carefree gaiety to a holiday which is filled with tedium; that many people dread the day and the obligation to give Christmas presents is a nightmare to weary, bored souls; that the children of enlightened parents no longer believe in Santa Claus; that all in all, the effort to be happy and have pleasure makes many honest hearts grow dark with despair instead of beaming with good will and cheerfulness.
- Julia Peterkin in A Plantation Christmas (1934).
- Christmas is not in tinsel and lights and outward show. The secret lies in an inner glow.
It's lighting a fire inside the heart.
Good will and joy a vital part.
It's higher thought and a greater plan.
It's glorious dream in the soul of man.
- Wilfred A. Peterson in The Art of Living.
- What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace.
- Agnes M. Pharo
- So if a Christian is touched only once a year, the touching is still worth it, and maybe on some given Christmas, some quiet morning, the touch will take.
- Harry Reasoner
- Bless us Lord, this Christmas, with quietness of mind; Teach us to be patient and always to be kind.
- Helen Steiner Rice
- Peace on earth will come to stay, when we live Christmas every day.
- Helen Steiner Rice
- It is not even the beginning of Christmas unless it is Christmas in the heart.
- Richard Roberts in Contemporary Christ.
- Christmas, my child, is love in action. … Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas.
- Dale Evans Rogers.
- Today the Virgin brings forth the Supersubstantial One / And the earth offers a cave to the Unapproachable One
- St. Romanos the Melodist
- Today used as Christmas Kontakion in Eastern Orthodox Church.
- St. Romanos the Melodist
- No one can celebrate a genuine Christmas without being truly poor. The self-sufficient, the proud, those who, because they have everything, look down on others, those who have no need ever of God — for them there will be no Christmas. Only the poor, the hungry, those who need someone to come on their behalf, will have that someone. That someone is God, Emmanuel, God-with-us. Without poverty of spirit there can be no abundance of God.
- Salvadoran Archbishop Óscar Romero, as quoted in Dionne, E J (Dec. 24, 2004). Washington Post (Washington, DC): p. A17.
[8]Love came down at Christmas;
Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Stars and angels gave the sign. ~ Christina Rossetti*Love came down at Christmas;
Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Stars and angels gave the sign.
- What can I give him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd,
I would bring a lamb;
If I were a wise man,
I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give him —
Give my heart.
- Christina G. Rossetti.
- Christmas — that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance — a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved.
- Augusta E. Rundel
- Christmas is sights, especially the sights of Christmas reflected in the eyes of a child.
- William Saroyan
- I can understand people simply fleeing the mountainous effort Christmas has become... but there are always a few saving graces and finally they make up for all the bother and distress.
- May Sarton
- The spirit of Christmas fulfils the greatest hunger of mankind.
- Loring A. Schuler
- Let us keep Christmas beautiful
Without a thought of greed,
That it might live forevermore
To fill our every need,
That it shall not be just a day,
But last a lifetime through,
The miracle of Christmastime
That brings God close to you.
- Garnett Ann Schultz
- Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone.
- A Christmas gambol oft could cheer The poor man's heart through half the year.
- Walter Scott
- Heap on the wood! — the wind is chill; But let it whistle as it will, We'll keep our Christmas merry still.
- Sir Walter Scott
- That's the true spirit of Christmas; people being helped by people other than me
- Jerry Seinfeld
- Christmas will always be as long as we stand heart to heart and hand in hand.
- Dr. Seuss.
- All the Whos down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot,
but the Grinch, who lived just north of Whoville, did not.
The Grinch hated Christmas — the whole Christmas season.
Oh, please don't ask why, no one quite knows the reason.
It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.
Or maybe his head wasn't screwed on just right.
But I think that the best reason of all
may have been that his heart was two sizes too small.
- Dr. Seuss From "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas".
- 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 and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?
- Dr. Seuss From "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas".
- At Christmas I no more desire a rose
Than wish a snow in May's newfangled mirth;
But life of each thing that in season grows.
- "Biron" in Love's Labour's Lost by William Shakespeare
- The simple shepherds heard the voice of an angel and found their Lamb; the wise men saw the light of a star and found their Wisdom.
- Did you ever notice that life seems to follow certain patterns? Like I noticed that every year around this time, I hear Christmas music
- Tom Sims.
- Consider Christmas — could Satan in his most malignant mood have devised a worse combination of graft plus bunkum than the system whereby several hundred million people get a billion or so gifts for which they have no use, and some thousands of shop clerks die of exhaustion while selling them, and every other child in the Western world is made ill from overeating — all in the name of the lowly Jesus?
- Christmas is the day that holds all time together.
- Alexander Smith
- He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.
- Roy L. Smith
Variant: He who has no Christmas in his heart will never find Christmas under a tree.
- Roy L. Smith
- Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most.
- Ruth Carter Stapleton
- Christmas … is not an external event at all, but a piece of one's home that one carries in one's heart.
- Freya Stark in "The Wise Men" from Time and Tide.
- Christmas is a bridge. We need bridges as the river of time flows past. Today's Christmas should mean creating happy hours for tomorrow and reliving those of yesterday.
- Gladys Tabor in Still Cove Journal.
- I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.
- The time draws near the birth of Christ:
The moon is hid; the night is still;
The Christmas bells from hill to hill
Answer each other in the mist
- It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you . . . yes, it is Christmas every time you smile at your brother and offer him your hand.
- Mother Teresa of Calcutta
- Christmas is here: Winds whistle shrill, Icy and chill, Little care we; Little we fear Weather without, Sheltered about The Mahogany Tree
- William Makepeace Thackeray
- When the song of the angel is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost — To heal the broken — To feed the hungry —
To release the prisoner — To rebuild the nations —
To bring peace among brothers and sisters —
To make music in the heart.
- Howard Thurman
- The wonderful world of Christmas is a joy from the moment it starts. The wonderful world of Christmas should remain ev'ry day in our hearts...
- Charles Tobias and Al Frisch
- For centuries men have kept an appointment with Christmas. Christmas means fellowship, feasting, giving and receiving, a time of good cheer, home.
- W. J. Tucker in Pulpit Preaching.
- At Christmas play and make good cheer,
For Christmas comes but once a year.
- Thomas Tusser in "The Farmer's Daily Diet" from A Hundred Points of Good Husbandry (1557).
- Of course, this is the season to be jolly, but it is also a good time to be thinking about those who aren't.
- Helen Valentine
- Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you … to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old … Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world — stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death — and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love? Then you can keep Christmas! But you can never keep it alone.
- Henry van Dyke ("Keeping Christmas" in The Spirit of Christmas).
- Gloria, Gloria! they cry, for their song embraces all that the Lord has begun this day: Glory to God in the highest of heavens! And peace to the people with whom he is pleased! And who are these people? With whom does the good Lord choose to take his pleasure? The shepherds. The plain and nameless — whose every name the Lord knows well. You. And me.
- Walter Wangerin Jr. in Preparing for Jesus.
- So here comes Gabriel again, and what he says is "Good tidings of great joy … for all people." … That's why the shepherds are first: they represent all the nameless, all the working stiffs, the great wheeling population of the whole world.
- Walter Wangerin Jr. in Preparing for Jesus.
- Oh look, yet another Christmas TV special! How touching to have the meaning of Christmas brought to us by cola, fast food, and beer.... Who'd have ever guessed that product consumption, popular entertainment, and spirituality would mix so harmoniously?
- Bill Watterson in Calvin & Hobbes.
- Christmas is for children. But it is for grown-ups too. Even if it is a headache, a chore, and nightmare, it is a period of necessary defrosting of chill and hide-bound hearts.
- Lenora Mattingly Weber "Extension".
- Now I'm an old Christmas tree, the roots of which have died. They just come along and while the little needles fall off me replace them with medallions.
- Orson Welles.
- I love the Christmas-tide, and yet,
I notice this, each year I live;
I always like the gifts I get,
But how I love the gifts I give!
'Tis blessed to bestow, and yet,
Could we bestow the gifts we get,
And keep the ones we give away,
How happy were our Christmas day!
- Carolyn Wells, "A Christmas Thought" from Folly for the Wise.
- As we struggle with shopping lists and invitations, compounded by December's bad weather, it is good to be reminded that there are people in our lives who are worth this aggravation, and people to whom we are worth the same.
- Donald E. Westlake
- To perceive Christmas through its wrapping becomes more difficult with every year.
- E. B. White,"The Distant Music of the Hounds" in The Second Tree from the Corner (1954).
- From a commercial point of view, if Christmas did not exist it would be necessary to invent it.
- Katherine Whitehorn
- Somehow not only for Christmas
But all the long year through,
The joy that you give to others
Is the joy that comes back to you.
And the more you spend in blessing
The poor and lonely and sad,
The more of your heart's possessing
Returns to make you glad.
- A little smile, a word of cheer, A bit of love from someone near, A little gift from one held dear, Best wishes for the coming year… These make a Merry Christmas!
- I like the Christmas that fulfills my needs … to be forgiven from greed and selfishness, to fill my empty soul with peace and compassion, for hope and faith and charity, for myself renewed and hope restored in an erring world.
- Robert D. Wigert in "I Like Christmas".
- When Christmas bells are swinging above the fields of snow,
We hear sweet voices ringing from lands of long ago,
And etched on vacant places
Are half-forgotten faces
Of friends we used to cherish, and loves we used to know.
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox in "Christmas Fancies" from Poems of Power.
- Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.
- Larry Wilde in The Merry Book of Christmas.
- 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.
- Tinsel is really snakes' mirrors.
- God's visit to earth took place in an animal shelter with no attendants present and nowhere to lay the newborn king but a feed trough. … For just an instant the sky grew luminous with angels, yet who saw the spectacle? Illiterate hirelings who watched the flocks of others, "nobodies" who failed to leave their names...
- Philip Yancy in "The Glory of Humility" from Christmas Stories for the Heart.
- This Advent we look to the Wise Men to teach us where to focus our attention. We set our sights on things above, where God is. We draw closer to Jesus... When our Advent journey ends, and we reach the place where Jesus resides in Bethlehem, may we, like the Wise Men, fall on our knees and adore him as our true and only King.
- Mark Zimmermann in Our Advent Journey.
- I find Christmas very difficult.
- Morrissey on stage at Earl's Court December 18th 2004.
Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations[edit]Edit
- Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 116-117.
- The mistletoe hung in the castle hall,
The holly branch shone on the old oak wall.
- Thomas Haynes Bayly, The Mistletoe Bough.
- And the Baron's retainers were blithe and gay,
And keeping their Christmas holiday.
- Thomas Haynes Bayly, The Mistletoe Bough.
- No trumpet-blast profaned
The hour in which the Prince of Peace was born;
No bloody streamlet stained
Earth's silver rivers on that sacred morn.
- William Cullen Bryant, Christmas in 1875.
- Christians awake, salute the happy morn
Whereon the Saviour of the world was born.
- John Byrom, Hymn for Christmas Day.
- For little children everywhere
A joyous season still we make;
We bring our precious gifts to them,
Even for the dear child Jesus' sake.
- Phoebe Cary, Christmas.
- It was the calm and silent night!
Seven hundred years and fifty-three
Had Rome been growing up to might
And now was queen of land and sea.
No sound was heard of clashing wars,
Peace brooded o'er the hushed domain;
Apollo, Pallas, Jove and Mars,
Held undisturbed their ancient reign,
In the solemn midnight,
Centuries ago.
- Alfred Domett, Christmas Hymn.
- How bless'd, how envied, were our life,
Could we but scape the poulterer's knife!
But man, curs'd man, on Turkeys preys,
And Christmas shortens all our days:
Sometimes with oysters we combine,
Sometimes assist the savory chine;
From the low peasant to the lord,
The Turkey smokes on every board.
- John Gay, Fables (1727), Part I. Fable 39.
- What babe new born is this that in a manger cries?
Near on her lowly bed his happy mother lies.
Oh, see the air is shaken with white and heavenly wings—
This is the Lord of all the earth, this is the King of Kings.
- Richard Watson Gilder, A Christmas Hymn, Stanza 4.
- As I sat on a sunny bank
On Christmas day in the morning
I spied three ships come sailing in.
- Washington Irving, Sketch book. The Sunny Bank. From an old Worcestershire Song.
- High noon behind the tamarisks, the sun is hot above us—
As at home the Christmas Day is breaking wan,
They will drink our healths at dinner, those who tell us how they love us,
And forget us till another year be gone!
- Rudyard Kipling, Christmas in India.
- Shepherds at the grange,
Where the Babe was born,
Sang with many a change,
Christmas carols until morn.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, By the Fireside. A Christmas Carol, Stanza 3.
- I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Christmas Bells, Stanza 1.
- Hail to the King of Bethlehem,
Who weareth in his diadem
The yellow crocus for the gem
Of his authority!
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Christus. Golden Legend, Part III.
- "What means this glory round our feet,"
The Magi mused, "more bright than morn!"
And voices chanted clear and sweet,
"To-day the Prince of Peace is born."
- James Russell Lowell, Christmas Carol.
- Let's dance and sing and make good cheer,
For Christmas comes but once a year.
- G. Macfarren, From a Fragment. (Before 1580).
- Ring out, ye crystal spheres!
Once bless our human ears,
If ye have power to touch our senses so;
And let your silver chime
Move in melodious time,
And let the bass of Heaven's deep organ blow;
And with your ninefold harmony
Make up full consort to the angelic symphony.
- John Milton, Hymn, On the Morning of Christ's Nativity.
- This is the month, and this the happy morn,
Wherein the Son of Heaven's eternal King,
Of wedded maid and virgin mother born,
Our great redemption from above did bring,
For so the holy sages once did sing,
That He our deadly forfeit should release,
And with His Father work us a perpetual peace.
- John Milton, Hymn, On the Morning of Christ's Nativity.
- 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring,—not even a mouse:
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
- Clement C. Moore, A Visit from St. Nicholas.
- God rest ye, little children; let nothing you affright,
For Jesus Christ, your Saviour, was born this happy night;
Along the hills of Galilee the white flocks sleeping lay,
When Christ, the Child of Nazareth, was born on Christmas day.
- Dinah Craik, Christmas Carol, Stanza 2.
- As many mince pies as you taste at Christmas' so many happy months will you have.
- Old English Saying.
- England was merry England, when
Old Christmas brought his sports again.
'Twas Christmas broach'd the mightiest ale;
'Twas Christmas told the merriest tale;
A Christmas gambol oft could cheer
The poor man's heart through half the year.
- Walter Scott, Marmion (1808), Canto VI. Introduction.
- At Christmas I no more desire a rose,
Than wish a snow in May's new-fangled mirth.
- William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost (c. 1595-6), Act I, scene 1, line 107.
- The time draws near the birth of Christ:
The moon is hid; the night is still;
The Christmas bells from hill to hill
Answer each other in the mist.
- Alfred Tennyson, In Memoriam A.H.H. (1849), XXVIII.
- Christmas is here:
Winds whistle shrill,
Icy and chill,
Little care we:
Little we fear
Weather without,
Sheltered about
The Mahogany-Tree.
- William Makepeace Thackeray, The Mahogany-Tree.
- At Christmas play, and make good cheer,
For Christmas comes but once a year.
- Thomas Tusser, Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, Chapter XII.
- The sun doth shake
Light from his locks, and, all the way
Breathing perfumes, doth spice the day.
- Henry Vaughan, Christ's Nativity.
- "Hark the herald angels sing,
Glory to the new-born king."
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!
- Charles Wesley, Christmas Hymn. (Altered from "Hark how all the welkin rings, Glory to the King of Kings.").
- Blow, bugles of battle, the marches of peace;
East, west, north, and south let the long quarrel cease;
Sing the song of great joy that the angels began,
Sing the glory to God and of good-will to man!
- John Greenleaf Whittier, Christmas Carmen, Stanza 3.
- Christ is born! Glorify Him!
Christ descends from the heavens, welcome Him!
Christ is now on earth, O be jubilant!
Sing to the Lord, the whole earth,
And sing praises to Him with joy, O ye people,
For He has been exalted!
- Eastern Orthodox Church, Christmas Canon, 1st Song, Irmos.[1]
- A Christmas Blessing During this Christmas season:
May you be blessed
With the spirit of the season,
which is peace,
The gladness of the season,
which is hope,
And the heart of the season,
which is love.
- Jesus, the Light of the World, as we celebrate your birth … may we begin to see the world in the light of understanding you give us.
- A Christmas shopper's complaint is one of long-standing.
- A goose never voted for an early Christmas.
- Irish Saying
- A white Christmas fills the churchyard.
- French Proverb
- About all you can do is dream of a white Christmas, for it seems like it always leaves most of us in the red.
- Ask your children two questions this Christmas. First: "What do you want to give to others for Christmas?" Second: "What do you want for Christmas?" The first fosters generosity of heart and an outward focus. The second can breed selfishness if not tempered by the first.
- Christmas began in the heart of God. It is complete only when it reaches the heart of man.
- Christmas is a race to see which gives out first — your money or your feet.
- Christmas is the season when you buy this year's gifts with next year's money.
- He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.
- If there is no joyous way to give a festive gift, give love away.
- If, Ifs and buts were candies and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas.
- It is Christmas in the mansion,
Yule-log fires and silken frocks;
It is Christmas in the cottage,
Mother's filling little socks.
It is Christmas on the highway,
In the thronging, busy mart;
But the dearest, truest Christmas
Is the Christmas in the heart.
- It is the spirit of brotherhood in the cheer of Christmas that makes it so glorious. Brotherliness is but the manifestation of the spirit of Christ.
- Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.
- Author unknown, attributed to a 7-year-old named Bobby
- Many banks have a new kind of Christmas club in operation. The new club helps you save money to pay for last year's gifts.
- Oh, for the good old days when people would stop Christmas shopping when they ran out of money.
[9]One of the nice things about Christmas is that you can make people forget the past with a present.*One of the nice things about Christmas is that you can make people forget the past with a present.
- People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and the New Year, but they really should be worried about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas.
- Perhaps the best Yuletide decoration is being wreathed in smiles.
- Sadly this Christmas passes away, so let us give thanks today, as we prepare for the year anew, with faith and hope to see it through.
- Selfishness makes Christmas a burden, love makes it a delight.
- Sing hey! Sing hey!
For Christmas Day;
Twine mistletoe and holly.
For a friendship glows
In winter snows,
And so let's all be jolly!
- So remember while December
Brings the only Christmas day,
In the year let there be Christmas
In the things you do and say.
[10]Symbolizing eternal hope, the wreath goes 'round and 'round, And where it starts or ends cannot be found...*Symbolizing eternal hope, the wreath goes 'round and 'round, And where it starts or ends cannot be found. Woven of things that grow - for life, and hung for holiday delight. The wreath must be left in place. From Advent through Twelfth Night.
- The Christmas spirit that goes out with the dried-up Christmas tree is just as worthless.
- The Christmas tree has taken the place of the altar in too much of our modern Christmas observance.
- The message of Christmas is that the visible material world is bound to the invisible spiritual world.
- The universal joy of Christmas is certainly wonderful. We ring the bells when princes are born, or toll a mournful dirge when great men pass away. Nations have their red-letter days, their carnivals and festivals, but once a year and only once, the whole world stands still to celebrate the advent of a life. Only Jesus of Nazareth claims this worldwide, undying remembrance. You cannot cut Christmas out of the calendar, nor out of the heart of the world.
- Then ye be glad, good people, This night of all the year, And light ye up your candles, His star is shining near...
- Two things upon this changing earth can neither change nor end; the splendor of Christ's humble birth, the love of friend for friend.
- Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won't make it "white".
- Until one feels the spirit of Christmas, there is no Christmas. All else is outward display — so much tinsel and decorations. For it isn't the holly, it isn't the snow. It isn't the tree not the firelight's glow. It's the warmth that comes to the hearts of men when the Christmas spirit returns again.
- What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus? Claustrophobic.
- Why is Christmas just like a day at the office? You do all the work and the fat guy with the suit gets all the credit.
- With every recurring Christmas morning the prospects of the world's peace grow brighter, and the practice of universal brotherhood comes a little nearer to the door.
- Wouldn't life be worth the living
Wouldn't dreams be coming true
If we kept the Christmas spirit
All the whole year through?
See also[edit]Edit
[11]Wikipedia has an article about:ChristmasLook up Christmas in Wiktionary, the free dictionary[12]Wikimedia Commons has media related to:Christmas*Santa Claus <img src="//en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?type=1x1" alt="" title="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;" /> Retrieved from "http://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Christmas&oldid=1806125"Categories:
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text:
Marc Jacobs Fall 2012
It's quite something when a designer can send an audience tripping out into the night humming a cheerful ditty and feeling they've just seen the best show in town. That was exactly the happy sensation Marc Jacobs, fashion impresario, generated in a New York event which merged fashion with theater on a grand but curiously sweet scale. To the tune of "Who Will Buy?" (the Lionel Bart song from the musical Oliver!), repeated in three versions (one of them Nancy Sinatra, another the Mormon Tabernacle Choir), he put on a crazily eccentric show of cartoony Victoriana which oughtn't to have made sense on any level, but ended up putting smiles on faces and lifting spirits. It was fashion subverted from its usually ruthless clockwork-commercial course: anti-sexy, absurdly styled with outsize wonky fur hats and cumbersomely non-body-conscious shapes—a show made, subversively, for the naive enjoyment of it. And of course that only accentuated the thrill of watching a fifteen-minute parade that reestablished the radical idea that fashion can still be free to be creative and cross over with art.
The artist in question was Jacobs's friend Rachel Feinstein, who jammed with him on far more than the amazing rickety-house set she built for the show. "We were talking about The Cat in the Hat, pilgrims, American conservatism," Jacobs was saying, amid a teeming crowd backstage after the show. "The tinsel," he added, "was from a photograph of Kurt Cobain, wearing tinsel round his neck." "And what's with the fur hats?" someone shouted. "Ah! I think every woman should have a fur coat," Jacobs shot back. "Only now she should wear it on her head!"
If one wanted to squeeze a fashion trend out of the performance, it might be possible to say that the clothes added to the current conversation about the up-sizing of garments. The many coats came with exaggerated bell-shaped skirts and another layer of felted and embellished skirt beneath them, often with knitted or crocheted stoles wrapped around the shoulders and pinned with a giant safety pin. Often the girls took on the look of dolls whose owners had dressed them up in clothes too big for them. At other moments, they seemed to be Victorian urchins, but playfully, theatrically so. And there was nothing at all downbeat about the richness and embellishment going on in the clothes: tweeds woven with plastic and tinsel, bright sparkly lamé, oversize glittery paisley-patterned jacquards, and multiple, playful combinations of greens, lavender, ocher, pinks, reds, gray, and black. Stripped down to its individual pieces, there's no doubt there will be a wealth of things for girls to wear in their own combinations. But that pragmatic fact wasn't the main lesson here: It was that Jacobs put the fun back into fashion, and that was elating to see.
For more information and a full profile on Marc Jacobs, go to Voguepedia.com.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
In late October 2012, Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast of the United States, causing astounding devastation--in loss of life, destruction of property, and widespread ecological damage--that will be felt for years to come.
Piping plovers are among the birds most susceptible to extreme weather events like Hurricane Sandy.
While it's too early to know the full impacts of Hurricane Sandy, a storm of this staggering size and scale could have serious consequences for the region's wildlife:
Heavy rains and winds caused massive flooding and erosion of coastal and river National Wildlife Refuges from North Carolina to Maine--damaging more than 40 Refuges.
Flooding of coastal marshes inundated breeding habitats of many coastal bird species, including Atlantic Coast piping plovers--a threatened species which depends upon the shorelines affected by Sandy for breeding habitat.
Hurricanes like Sandy can disrupt bird migrations as well as blow sea birds inland, causing them to end up in unusual places sometimes hundreds of miles away from their coastal habitat.
Hurricane Sandy is a devastating reminder of the risks of a changing climate, as increased warming raises the intensity of extreme weather events. Higher ocean temperatures are contributing to heavier rainfall and higher sea levels are producing stronger storm surges. And new research suggests that Arctic ice melting is likely one of the conditions that helped turn Hurricane Sandy into a superstorm.
Hurricane Sandy makes two things clear: we need to reduce the risks of climate change by reducing our carbon pollution, and we must strengthen our defenses to minimize future storm-related catastrophes.
At National Wildlife Federation, we're working to pass policies to keep people and wildlife safe from storms and floods, and working with on-the-ground partners to protect and restore habitat in areas vulnerable to extreme weather events.
NWF Actions to Protect People and Wildlife from Storms and Floods:
Protect Wildlife from Climate Change - Like us, wildlife are vulnerable to climate change. Without conservation efforts to protect wildlife from climate change, many species are at great peril. We are working to conserve habitats for wildlife and taking measures to keep their populations strong, better enabling them to withstand the extreme weather of climate change.
Reduce Carbon Pollution - To avoid increased damage from severe weather events, we must get serious about reducing carbon pollution. We are pushing the administration to follow through on its efforts to use the Clean Air Act to limit carbon pollution from power plants and other sources, and working quickly to expand clean energy solutions.
Promote Climate Readiness - The best time to protect against and plan for natural catastrophe is long before it happens. Some federal, state, and municipal agencies have taken steps to develop climate-adaptation plans, but most of these plans have yet to be implemented, and will require political will and adequate funding to truly create more climate-resilient communities. We are working with coastal communities to find nature-based solutions for increasing their resilience to climate change.
Make Flood Insurance Reform Real - Hurricane Sandy destroyed countless properties across the Northeast, including many that belonged to people who had no idea their property was located within a floodplain and therefore did not have flood insurance. By working to reform the National Flood Insurance program which wrong encourages development in floodplains, we'll protect more properties and encourage smarter and safer development.
Protect Our Natural Defenses - Natural features like wetlands reduce storm intensity and protect nearby properties and wildlife habitat from flooding. We must ensure that the government helps protect these beneficial and cost-effective flood control features. NWF is working to restore coastal wetlands in the Gulf of Mexico which will help protect places like New Orleans from the potential impacts of storms like Hurricane Katrina.
You can help wildlife in jeopardy from climate-fueled extreme weather events by supporting our work today.
Do you need materials to talk with your kids about Hurricane Sandy?
Check out Hurricane Sandy resources that are kid-friendly in our Eco-Schools website.


text:
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/10/2013 (1413 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Burgundy is back.
The Kildonan-East Collegiate Reivers boys' hockey team will bust out its wine-tinted threads again as it is rejoining the Winnipeg High School Hockey League after taking the 2012-13 season off.
The decision to not ice a team was made before last school year, and before vice-principal Darlene Martineau officially started in the job. She was encouraged on multiple occasions to try to revive the program.
"I had a couple groups of boys approach me throughout the year and really wanting to bring hockey back to KE," Martineau said. "I believe as a school leader that a strong athletic program is really important to a school — to school-building and its culture."
Martineau said there was no team last year just because the logistics weren't quite right.
"You have to have students. You have to have coaches. A lot of things have to fall into place," Martineau said.
Several of the returning players didn't give up the sport in the year off, opting to play on community club or recreational teams. They're up to the challenge of getting ready for the tough level of competition.
"It's been going really well. We've been working really hard as a team," Grade 12 forward Braden Turman said.
"There's been plenty of dryland training to get back into shape," added defenceman Keenan Young, also in Grade 12.
Young added it shouldn't be too difficult to get back into the swing of things, as several of the players grew up playing together.
"We had great chemistry. The one thing I would say, though, is we didn't have a lot of Grade 12s, a lot of older guys. We had a younger team back then, and now, we have an older team," Young said.
Rookie head coach Luke Klassen is glad to be able to coach this veteran-laden roster with nine Grade 12s on the team. He said the dedication of those players is rubbing off on the younger ones to help simplify his job.
"They're all on time. They all show up," Klassen said. "(I appreciate) that veteran leadership that they've shown, that maturity that some of those younger guys don't necessarily have."
Klassen said even though several players are in their last season, the program is sustainable, with plenty of interest among younger students.
The Reivers, who were sixth in the eight-team Coca Cola Division with a 7-12-3 record in 2011-12, were slated to get their first competitive action at the Springfield Tournament in Oakbank over Thanksgiving weekend. They will kick off regular season play against Collège Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau on Oct. 18 at 4:15 p.m. at Roland Michener Arena.
Klassen has a pretty clear vision of how he expects his squad to perform as it heads out in the hopes of locking up a title for those who won't get another crack at it.
"We have some offensive power and we have good goaltending — and my big thing is always having one of the hardest-working teams," Klassen explained. "We'll have good work ethic. I think we'll be hard-hitting, but clean."
Twitter: @HeraldWPG


text:
If we talked about this it was a long time ago, so I'll start a new thread.
Does anyone know if it's safe to use tempered glass cookware like Pyrex or Corningware in a low-heat (325F), indirect situation? I mentioned my mom's scalloped potatoes and ham in the Mother's Day thread and she always uses Corningware, but obviously in oven.


text:
>Running 101>I want to be a runner !
Latent Runner
I'm currently running 25 miles a week. I feel strong like I could do twice that but have been reading lately that anything over about 20 a week starts to be not beneficial. My plan was to run a marathon sometime next summer (2014) but now I'm starting to re think that. Any opinions ?
Seriously, over 20 per week isn't beneficial? Yikes, I'm doing closer to 60 per week. Funny thing, I was much slower and much fatter when I was only doing 20-25 miles per week; guess my body doesn't believe whatever it was you were reading.
Fat old man PRs:
Fear is a Liar
It's interesting that the article mentioned only two runners who supposedly died from heart disease - I have read these stories but don't remember the details well enough to comment.
BUT - where are the numbers for all the John and Jane Doe's who run zero miles, are sedentary, are over weight and die from heart disease? I bet that is a way bigger number.
I'm so vegetarian I don't even eat animal crackers!
If I'm not mistaken, Jim Fixx was genetically predisposed to hypercholesterolemia (which causes very high blood cholesterol levels regardless of diet and/or exercise, and almost always results in atherosclerosis, aka. heart disease) and a congenitally enlarged heart, both factors that can kill pretty much anybody. I say this to use as evidence to discount those who point to Jim Fixx as a reason to avoid running or at least to avoid running consistently long distances.
If your minimal health insurance policy allows for free/cheap physicals, you might want to consider getting one along with the associated blood work; that will at least tell you if you have elevated cholesterol levels and are at risk for developing atherosclerosis. In my case I went some four years with absolutely no insurance, and wouldn't you know it, I developed cataracts in my eyes during that period. Not only did I need to have the most severe one (which utterly and completely blinded me in my right eye) removed on my own dime, I needed to have a complete physical prior to the surgery. I tell you this because after calling around, I found both an eye surgeon and a medical group willing to give me extremely cut rate prices just to get me the help I needed. If I recall correctly, the complete physical, blood work included, was around $100.
Fortunately I managed to become insured before my second cataract got dense enough to fully blind my second eye; I had that one removed earlier this year.
Good luck and keep us posted.
running metalhead
It's sort of a recurring fad in the fitness world.
There are a couple of articles pointing in this direction, but they have been debunked a few times too.Check it out here:http://www.runnersworld.com/health/too-much-running-myth-rises-againThis guy, Alex Hutchinson, is worth reading. It's the only thing I read from RW (well, and some funny looking articles from time to time... ah, and the workouts with chicks!)The issue is that for some fitness professionals this story sounds just great to endorse their own "softy" training methods and lure the lazy people to their plans. It's perfect to make people believe that hard work is deadly and only their cozy soft yoga welness programm will safe their lives... and produce six pack abs, of course!
When I run I feel like a swallow
Because you are free like a bird?
Nope, because of all the flies I eat.
well let's see. both my older brothers (2-3 yrs older) who are NOT overweight & are both hard workers at their jobs have high cholesterol/blood pressure. high cholesterol/blood pressure/diabetes/heart related issues all run through our family history (especially on father's side) . I go for regular checkups every year for past 5 yrs or so. Each time doctor says I have perfect health & wonders why I actually feel like I need to see him so often. cholesterol is right in middle, blood pressure/heart rate low to very low on scale. neither one of my brothers run or are not very active outside of work. My dad passed away at 61 from heart /artery related issues & had major heart surgery & work on his arteries as early as age 45. His mother passed away from complications due to diabetes at age 61 too. Both brothers as well as sister & father have history of smoking & sometimes heavy smoking. All 3 of my siblings no longer smoke any more. thank God.
I've never smoked (at least not tobacco) & run every day & average 30 -40 miles/week (sometimes more depending on what race training for at the time). BMI is on low end, have lost close to 50 lbs since returning to consistent running 6 yrs ago & have a streak of 49 straight months with 100 miles or more. About 3 yrs ago I did a fairly inclusive fitness test & test showed that my biological age was 12 yrs younger than my chronological age. I HAVE ALL THE EVIDENCE I NEED & will continue to run more than 20 miles/week. I'll be 58 in less than 2 mths.
currently dealling with a nagging hamstring strain but will work through it just like like any other running related injury in the past.
I would not run a marathon in the summer.
"What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight – it's the fight in the dog. – Dwight D. Eisenhower
My blog is JT Running DC. It's awesome.
never runs the tangents
There are all kinds of crazy stories out there. You have to wade through the noise and decide what to believe. There was a story in the paper just this morning about a young, healthy kid who collapsed and died after football practice. That sort of thing happens a lot this time of year. I wouldn't take from it that playing football is inherently dangerous. Ok it is, but not for collapsing after practice and dying reasons.
Think of it this way, there are a lot more people who die from sitting around on the couch disease than die from sport related injuries.
"Do what I do. Hold tight and pretend it's a plan!" Doctor Who
Feeling the growl again
Wherever you read that more than 20mpw was not beneficial and/or dangerous, it is bunk. Both from a health perspective and a fitness perspective, it is dead wrong.
I've run as much as 147 miles in a week. Everything up to around 120 miles a week made me faster, anything over that was not really productive for me.
I don't even feel good it i'm running that little.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
Found it http://running.competitor.com/2012/06/news/how-much-running-is-bad-for-your-heart_54331
Quote from article:
" The best health outcomes are actually found far below the exercise levels of even casual endurance athletes. A 15-year observational study of 52,000 adults found that the highest degree of survival and health was found from running less than 20 miles per week, in runs of 30 to 45 minutes over three or four days, at about an 8:30 to 10:00 pace. The benefits decrease at amounts greater than that. "
Found it http://running.competitor.com/2012/06/news/how-much-running-is-bad-for-your-heart_54331
Quote from article:
" The best health outcomes are actually found far below the exercise levels of even casual endurance athletes. A 15-year observational study of 52,000 adults found that the highest degree of survival and health was found from running less than 20 miles per week, in runs of 30 to 45 minutes over three or four days, at about an 8:30 to 10:00 pace. The benefits decrease at amounts greater than that. "
That quote is beyond crap. But if you want to do something that is unhealthy or at least not smart, run a marathon on less than 20 miles per week.
Considering how slow I ran when I started running, 20 miles would have been less than 4 hours of exercise. 4 hours in a week doesn't really seem like a lot of exercise. A quick Google search says that 2.5 to 5 hours of aerobic exercise a week is beneficial.
I read that running more than 9 miles a week makes you impotent.
Even Especially for women.
HTFU? Why not!
USATF Coach


text:
The Last Words website is all about cemeteries and churchyards, now a lot of people would think it is rather odd to be interested in such grim places, but then they aren't genealogists! Stephen Greene is the author of the site and as well as his contributions to the site he invites others to register and contribute photos etc. A united effort.
I was particularly drawn to his video of Arnos Vale Cemetery in Bristol, very atmospheric with music to match. The short video featured a number of monuments sadly not any of my ancestors who are buried there, but interesting to see the cemetery nevertheless. The site has offerings from Belgium, France, Hungary, Sweden, U.K. and the U.S.A.
The Arnos Vale video is to be found by clicking on the U.K. tab and the video is the second item down. Once you have viewed the video there comes up other "You Tube" videos, several of which are on Arnos Dale. When I get a moment I think I will spend some time seeing what other "You Tube" videos are available for ancestral places.
Take a look you never know what you'll find.


text:
Group child care facilities usually offer a variety of educational
programs and activities. Although emphasis varies between facilities, look for
one with the following characteristics:
CitationsAmerican Academy of Pediatrics, et al. (2011). Program activities for healthy development. In Caring for Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards—Guidelines for Early Care and Education Programs, 3rd ed., pp. 48–85. Elk Grove Village, IL: American Academy of Pediatrics.
Next Section:
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Last Revised:
September 14, 2012
Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:
Susan C. Kim, MD - Pediatrics & John Pope, MD - Pediatrics
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.
To learn more visit Healthwise.org
© 1995-2012 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.


text:
I grew up in China, where religion wasn't a part of our lives except that we honored our ancestors during special times of the year. I moved to New Zealand when I was 12 years old and had to learn English. I also began learning a bit about God in the weekly Bible classes offered in New Zealand's schools.
I enjoyed hearing Bible stories and liked to draw pictures of Bible characters. The teachers didn't tell us we had to believe in God; they just told us Bible stories and let us draw our own conclusions. For me this religious training was just a bunch of interesting stories.
When I entered high school, I asked some of my friends how they felt about God. Some of them were quite religious and went to church regularly. I asked them casual questions while were we hung out together, and this way I learned a little more about God.
Little by little I realized that religion should be more than simply Abelieve in God and you'll go to heaven, as some friends said. One friend told me that God has a plan for all of us, and this made me think. If God really did have a plan for me, what did He expect of me? Was the God my religious friends talked about the same God who made the world? Or was Creation an accident?
My Adventist friends seemed to know the most about what they believed and acted according to his beliefs. So when one of my friends invited me to his church, I went. I had never been inside a Christian church before, so I watched what the people did. He invited me back again, and I went. Then he invited me to go with him to youth camp. There I learned so much about what it means to be a Christian. I learned how to study the Bible and expressed my faith in Jesus.
When I told my parents I had become a Christian, they nodded. They don't know a lot about what it means to be a Christian, so I explained to them what I'm learning. They listen and sometimes ask me questions about what I believe.
My friends led me to Christ through their profession and their lifestyle, their words and their conduct. I=m learning to live my faith as they do, trusting Christ to make me a new creature. It's sometimes difficult, but God is patiently teaching me, and I am willing to learn. I urge others to be aware that people are watching them.
David Zhang lives his life for Christ in New Zealand.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission.
Find more stories like this at AdventistMission.org
email: email@example.com


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5 Hot Links We're Loving:
- You cook with wine and beer, so why not hard cider? We've got our eye on this recipe for cider-braised chicken by The Bite House.
- Skip the takeout and make 30 Pounds of Apple's pork & ginger apple potstickers. Grab some chopsticks, put on a good movie and you have yourself a nice night.
- So over pumpkin spice lattes? Sweet Happy Life has a recipe for homemade gingerbread lattes that is sure to win over your heart.
- Kahlua gives Tutti Dolci's espresso crinkle cookies an extra wow factor. Everyone will be asking for your secret.
- Make Yin Mom, Yang Mom's recipe for apple pie-infused bourbon for the important apple pie and/or bourbon lovers in your life.
Craving More?
- Looking for more cookie inspiration? Check out these tasty twists on classic holiday cookies by some of our favorite food bloggers around the web.
- Determined to perfect your gingerbread house skills this year? We've got you covered.


text:
Los Angeles • The men who plan to become the first gay couple married on a Rose Parade float say they're too busy planning their wedding to think much about a proposed parade boycott.
But Aubrey Loots and Danny Leclair added Monday that they hope the boycott organized by a woman who calls the nuptials a slap in the face to opponents of same-sex unions will spur more conversation about the issue. The couple, together 12 years, plan to exchange vows on New Year's morning atop a giant wedding cake on the AIDS Healthcare Foundation float. Sharon Grube of San Diego has appeared on TV and the Internet while promoting her "Boycott The 2014 Rose Parade" effort. Parade officials say the float is in keeping with this year's theme, "Dreams Come True."
The Associated Press


text:
JACKSON Bird's first ball passed unremarkably, but the crowd clapped anyway, because he was new this day to Test cricket, and because this was Boxing Day at the MCG.
So sounded the first soft note of a crescendo. It was followed by a throaty roar in the next over when Bird took his first wicket, more and louder roars from a crowd of more than 67,000 as Bird, Peter Siddle and Mitch Johnson ripped the heart out of Sri Lanka's batting, and yet more bellows of affirmation as Dave Warner looked as if he would pick off the runs by himself, and before nightfall.
Only in the last hour - as Australia gifted Sri Lanka three wickets, and was spared two more by dropped catches, and the crowd thinned as the annual migration to the beach began, and a post-Christmas torpor settled on those who stayed - did the encores subside.
There was another well-pleased debutant yesterday. Hours before play, as some breakfasted on eggs and some on beer, new MCG curator David Sandurski broke from his stage-setting duties to pre-empt a pitch that would be grassy on top, but granite-hard beneath, in the long Australian tradition, latterly honoured mostly in the breach.
His pitch proved as true as his word. Sri Lanka, for all its batting prowess, was at a loss to know how to cope with it, going at the bowling either too hesitantly, too assertively and then utterly recklessly, until its capitulation was complete. Only elegant veteran Kumar Sangakkara got the tempo right, at one stage dwelling on 20 balls without scoring, then stroking Johnson for 15 in four balls, parry and thrust. This was the foundation of his innings of 58, Sri Lanka's only substantial act of resistance.
En route, Sangakkara became the 11th man to post 10,000 Test runs, from the same number of innings and at a higher average as the more feted Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara, and one innings fewer than Ricky Ponting. None of them had to do a sideline in wicketkeeping, as Sangakkara did again yesterday afternoon because of injury, nor did any deliver a much-acclaimed Cowdrey lecture at Lord's.
To be fair, Sri Lanka's paltry innings was the outcome not so much of a collapse as a detonation. Sometimes this summer, Australia's attack has looked not so much to be rotating as spinning out of selectorial control. Yesterday, it emerged in yet another untried menage.
But you would never have known it. Bowling McDermott theory - pitch up and at the stumps, invite the drive, give the ball scope to swing - not one of the Australian bowlers gave the Sri Lankan batsmen a moment's respite. Each took up where the other left off. It had the effect of a siege. Some of the Sri Lankans tried to wait it out, some tried to break it by force, unavailingly, and the tail surrendered meekly.
Johnson was hit for eight fours, all by Sangakkara, but unlike the Johnson of yore, this was not profligacy. Rather, it was the price he was prepared to pay as he sought to engage the Sri Lankan top order sometimes by the carrot, and sometimes by the
stick. Against the tail, it was strictly stick. Bird was this day's revelation. He is tall, uses his height well, has a reliable aim and does a tidy line in outswing. Affecting cool at the end of his first over, he took his cap, but walked to the wrong side of the ground, a classic beginner's lesson.
All catches were held, including one on the rocketing rise by Mike Hussey at an uncustomary second slip, and a screamer by wicketkeeper Matthew Wade, tracking Sangakkara's top edge over his shoulder. Typically, a ball on that trajectory will float beyond a fieldsman's grasp, but Wade was smart enough to dive beyond the fall, and so held a keepsake catch.
Even Australia's manners were impeccable. At lunch, most went to Sangakkara to compliment him on his milestone. It was the sort of nicety, suspending combat, that sometimes sets cricket apart.
Australia chased like a gallivanting puppy. Warner strong-armed balls through cover for fours, then lifted Chanaka Welegedara for six as effortlessly as affixing a star to a Christmas tree. Ed Cowan understudied dutifully, and 90 arrived at more than five an over.
Suddenly, Warner fell into an obvious trap at deep square leg, Phil Hughes authored yet another runout - his this time - and Cowan edged to slip. Shane Watson and Michael Clarke both might have fallen, too. This recast Australia plays boldly, but lacks the utter ruthlessness of old. At 0-90, Australia was looking at a day of blithe haymaking today. Now 3-150, it will have to proceed with an edge of caution.