Promises to Keep

So much Joy and Peace and Love these days. :)

But, should Christmas, the man-made holiday, not fulfill its promises of life changes (such as we saw in Mr. Scrooge or George Bailey), we are blessed to know that there is One who always keeps promises, and Who blesses above and beyond all that we wish or dream.

We, in our man-made glitter and warmth, sometimes must look to people and things to remind us of Hope, and Faith, and True Love. And while these expedients are often necessary for our small physical minds to grasp the greatness of spiritual glories, may we never let the reflection of Those Things block our vision of Who they represent. Let not our kindness and gift-giving (or in contrast, let not our avoidance of things of the world which only have the appearance of good things) be seen by others certain times of the year, or of the week. But let us live this "Christmas Spirit" - this life of unconditional Love and devotion to Truth - each and every day.

True Love and Joy and Peace to you and your loved ones, both now and always.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PROMISES TO KEEP

Christmas time
On a cold December morning
All is calm
And the world is still asleep
Christmas lights
That have been caught without warning
Gently glitter on
Stars to wish upon
All the world is at peace

Christmas time and the year will soon be leaving
Cloaked in time till it's just a memory
Christmas stays if we don't forget its meaning
Days go quickly by
Years they multiply
And we go searching for thee

And the dream is still alive
From that first December morning
And it always will survive
As long as we can see
That the dreams we find in life
Are the dreams we tend to seek
And Christmas has its promises to keep

Christmas time
And the moments just beginning
From last night
When we'd wished upon a star

If our kindness
This day is just pretending
If we pretend long enough
Never giving up
It just might be who we are

And so it's good that we remember
Just as soon as we've discovered
That the things we do in life
Will always end up touching others

- Trans Siberian Orchestra

Where does the "old fashioned Christmas" come from?

Just for fun and interest... :)

"Charles Dickens has probably had more influence on the way that we celebrate Christmas today than any single individual in human history except one.

"At the beginning of the Victorian period the celebration of Christmas was in decline. The medieval Christmas traditions, which combined the celebration of the birth of Christ with the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia (a pagan celebration for the Roman god of agriculture), and the Germanic winter festival of Yule, had come under intense scrutiny by the Puritans under Oliver Cromwell. The Industrial Revolution, in full swing in Dickens' time, allowed workers little time for the celebration of Christmas.

"The romantic revival of Christmas traditions that occurred in Victorian times had other contributors: Prince Albert brought the German custom of decorating the Christmas tree to England, the singing of Christmas carols (which had all but disappeared at the turn of the century) began to thrive again, and the first Christmas card appeared in the 1840s. But it was the Christmas stories of Dickens, particularly his 1843 masterpiece A Christmas Carol, that rekindled the joy of Christmas in Britain and America. Today, after more than 160 years, A Christmas Carol continues to be relevant, sending a message that cuts through the materialistic trappings of the season and gets to the heart and soul of the holidays.

"Dickens' describes the holidays 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 other people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys". This was what Dickens described for the rest of his life as the "Carol Philosophy".

"Dickens' name had become so synonymous with Christmas that on hearing of his death in 1870 a little costermonger's girl in London asked, "Mr. Dickens dead? Then will Father Christmas die too?""

- found at Dicken's Christmas page
photo of Dickens lady costume from this website


online video viewers, don't miss this four part youtube contribution of Richard Williams (and Chuck Jones) 1971 animated version of the Dickens Christmas Classic. It's a spooky one. Part 1 of 4 is linked below.



Oh, and "God make you mighty, gentlefolk". As "God rest ye merry, gentlemen" is prominent in this selection, it is useful to know the old fashioned meaning of the lyrics. Check out "Ace Collins' Songs of Christmas", for one. And enjoy this instrumental version performed by Simeon Wood.