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Christmas
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Welcome to Christmas
at Living Life Fully!
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"There
are many things from which I might have derived good,
by which
I have not
profited, I dare say," returned the nephew:
"Christmas among the
rest. But 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 were really 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
it has done me good,
and will do me good;
and I say,
God bless it!"
Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol |
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On Christmas
morning, our joy or our happiness can be at a
very high level, not because
of our anticipation of what we
might receive but, rather, in anticipation
of watching our loved
ones open our gifts to them. In fact, if we're
not careful, we
can fail to register sufficient excitement and joy upon
opening
the gifts we receive from others. We must remember that
they
are happiest at that time and to give them top billing,
to stretch their
happiness to its full length.
Earl Nightingale |
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Christmas is
the most human and kindly of seasons,
as fully penetrated and irradiated
with the feeling of human
brotherhood, which is the essential spirit of
Christianity, as the
month of June with sunshine and the balmy breath of
roses.
George William
Curtis |
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For
me, the spirit of Christmas is about
letting the loving but messy little
rituals
become just as important as the solemn
and graceful ones.
It's about making
room for everyone.
Ann
Michael
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And
so the good news was told to shepherds, to working men who were toiling in
the fields. The coming King would hallow the common work of man, and
in His love and grace all the problems of labour would find a solution.
The Lord of the Christmas-tide throws a halo over common
toil. Even Christian people have not all learnt the significance of
the angels' visit to the lonely shepherds. Some of us can see the
light resting upon a bishop's crosier, but we cannot see the radiance on
the ordinary shepherd's staff. We can discern the hallowedness of a
priest's vocation, but we see no sanctity in the calling of the grocer, or
of the scavenger in the street. We can see the nimbus on the few,
but not on the crowd; on the unusual, but not on the commonplace.
But the very birth-hour of Christianity irradiated the humble doings of
humble people. When the angels went to the shepherds, common work
was encircled with an immortal crown.
John Henry Jowett |
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When
we work so hard at our preparations for Christmas,
we often feel
cheated and frustrated when others fail
to notice the
results of our efforts. We need to ask
ourselves why we are
doing the things we choose to do.
If love motivates us--love
for our families, for our neighbors--
then we are free
to simply enjoy the actual process of what
we do, rather than
requiring the approval and admiration
of others for the results of
our labors.
Ellyn
Sanna
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The Art of
Keeping Christmas
How can we best keep
Christmas? How can we best defeat the little bit of Scrooge in all
of us and experience the glory of the Great Day?
By sinking the shafts of our
spirits deep beneath the sparkling tinsel of the surface of Christmas and
renewing within us the radiance of the inner meaning of the season.
By following the Star on an
inward journey to Bethlehem to stand again in awe and wonder before the
Babe in a Manger.
By rediscovering the faith
and simplicity of a little child, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.
By being still and listening
to the angels sing within our hearts.
By quietly evaluating our
lives according to the Master's standards as set forth in the Sermon on
the Mount.
By reaffirming the supremacy
of the spirit in our conquest of ourselves.
By rededicating ourselves to
the Master's ideals of Peace, Brotherhood, and Good Will.
By resolving to give
ourselves away to others in love, joy and devotion.
By using the light of
Christmas to guide us through the darkness of the coming year, refusing to
go back to the dim kerosene lamps of the spirit when the brilliant
electricity of Christmas is available to show us the way.
Wilferd A.
Peterson |
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Festive
Recipes and How to Cook a Perfect Turkey for Christmas Dinner
How
long to cook a whole turkey - Cook time and temperature calculator
Why
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How
to cook the perfect holiday turkey - Festive turkey recipes for
Christmas dinner |
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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
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Are you
willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember
what other people have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you,
and to think what you owe the world; to put your rights in the background,
and your duties in the middle distance, and your chances to do a little
more than your duty in the foreground; to see that your fellow-people are
just as real as you are, and try to look behind their faces to their
hearts, hungry for joy; to own that probably the only good reason
for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what
you are going to give to life; to close your book of complaints against
the management of the universe, and look around you for a place where you
can sow a few seeds of happiness--are you willing to do these things even
for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.
Henry van
Dyke
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It is
good to be children sometimes,
and never better than at Christmas,
when
its mighty Founder was a child Himself.
Charles Dickens |
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We
have finally mastered the meaning of Christmas
when Christmas becomes a
way of life.
attributed to Leo
Buscaglia
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The joy
of brightening other lives, bearing each others' burdens,
easing each
others' loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives
with generous gifts
becomes for us the magic of Christmas.
W.C. Jones |
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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
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Christmas
reminds us we are not alone. We are not unrelated atoms, jouncing
and ricocheting amid aliens, but are a part of something, which holds and
sustains us.
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. Christmas shows us the ties that bind us
together, threads of love and caring, woven in the simplest and strongest
way within the family.
Donald E. Westlake |
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The
most vivid memories of Christmases past are usually not
of gifts given or
received, but of the spirit of love,
the special warmth of Christmas
worship,
the cherished little habits of home.
Lois
Rand
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Christmas
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At
Christmastime, children play an essential part in our
celebrations. So much of what we do is intended to please
them--and all the while our hearts keep hearkening back to
the
Christmas memories of our own childhoods. On Christmas
Eve,
sometimes we can't help but envy our children the stars
in their
eyes, especially when our own eyes are dull with
exhaustion.
Christmas is so much simpler for a child. Can
we open our
tired, adult eyes to that same simplicity?
Ellen Sanna
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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
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Happy, happy
Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days,
recall to the old the pleasures of their youth, and transport the
travelers back to their own firesides and quiet homes!
Charles Dickens
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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 world seemingly most indifferent. For this is still
the time God chooses.
Taylor
Caldwell
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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
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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
fine morning and suddenly saying
to myself:
"Why this is Christmas Day!"
David
Grayson
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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
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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
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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 nor the firelight's glow.
It's the warmth that comes to the hearts of men
when the Christmas spirit returns again.
unattributed
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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 a melody that would last forever.
Bess
Streeter Aldrich
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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
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The whole idea of Christmas is the birth of Christ.
It symbolizes for each of us, whether Christian or not, the possibility
of rebirth, the winter before the spring. We are reminded how
we can add more quality to our lives. We are told to be more
tolerant, to be more compassionate, to be more generous, to give
to our family, our friends, our community, to draw our family
close around us.
Now, it's hard to find all these messages under all the presents and
the decorations and all the food, but they're there. . . There are an
infinite number of acts of kindness that are possible within
your family and friends.
Let the kids make a few more mistakes; be less critical; put your
arms around someone from whom you may be a little estranged.
Make peace within your family.
There are many possibilities for those acts of kindness. That's what
Christmas is all about--acts of kindness that will stay with us
all year long.
Jennifer James
Success Is the Quality of Your Journey |
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Christmas
is a necessity. There has
to be at least one day of the year
to remind us that we're here for
something else besides ourselves.
Eric Sevareid |
Christmas
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