Christmas in June.

Today is the feast of the Nativity of St. John the Forerunner.  And how can anyone keep this day without thinking of Saint John's cousin, the Son who left glory to be born a man, who endured every temptation but without sinning, who died for us, and in his resurrection defeated death itself?  So, it is six months early,  but I am thinking about Christmas.


Christmas

How soon it starts,

The endless moan:
‘Just ten more weeks, 
How time has flown!
The shopping’s such
An awful bore;
Things cost so much – 
(And more, and more) –
I wonder if this colour suits her
- Let’s give the children a computer!’
Unchanging times remain, it’s true:
The card that means
‘I think of you’
Is there a hopeful little sock
Hung by the fire, beneath the clock:
Name stuck on a with a safety pin,
For Santa’s bounty to go in;
An apple and an orange too,
A coin pushed down into the toe,
And loving parcels set below
For Christmas morn?
The perfect way to celebrate
That long ago a child was born.

by Jay
Title: Christmas
Source: New Shetlander, 1985