Heap on the wood!-the wind is chill; But let it whistle as it will, We’ll keep our Christmas merry still.
—Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Lawyer
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 (1910–97) Roman Catholic Missionary, Nun
A Christmas shopper’s complaint is one of long-standing.
—Indian Proverb
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 (1811–63) English Novelist
It was always said of him [Scrooge] 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!
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
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 you glad.
—John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–92) American Quaker Poet, Abolitionist
One of the nice things about Christmas is that you can make people forget the past with a present.
—Indian Proverb
When we judge other people we confront them in a spirit of detachment, observing and reflecting as it were from the outside. But love has neither time nor opportunity for this. If we love, we can never observe the other person with detachment, for he is always and at every moment a living claim to our love and service.
—Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–45) German Lutheran Pastor, Theologian
We should make the Yuletide season an occasion not merely for the giving of material things but an occasion for the giving of that which counts infinitely more … the giving of self.
—James Cash Penney (1875–1971) American Entrepreneur
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 (1812–70) English Novelist
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 (1850–1919) American Poet, Journalist
Love came down at Christmas;
Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Stars and angels gave the sign.
—Christina Rossetti (1830–94) English Poet, Hymn Writer
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 (b.1955) American Christian Author, Minister
“Somehow he [Tim] 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 (1812–70) English Novelist
When we recall the past, we usually find that it is the simplest things—not the great occasions—that in retrospect give off the greatest glow of happiness.
—Bob Hope (1903–2003) British-born American Comedian
Three wise women would have…
asked directions,
arrived on time,
helped deliver the baby,
cleaned the stable,
made a casserole,
brought practical gifts,
and there would be peace on Earth.
—Indian Proverb
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 (1812–70) English Novelist
Christmas hath a beauty … lovelier than the world can show.
—Christina Rossetti (1830–94) English Poet, Hymn Writer
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.
—Unknown
As long as we know in our hearts what Christmas ought to be, Christmas is.
—Eric Sevareid (1912–92) American Journalist, Author
Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone.
—Charles M. Schulz (1922–2000) American Cartoonist, Writer, Artist
Please to put a nickel, please to put a dime. How petitions trickle in at Christmas time!
—Phyllis McGinley (1905–78) American Children’s Books Writer, Poet, Writer of Children’s Books
Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
At Christmas I no more desire a rose Than wish a snow in May’s new-fangled mirth; But like of each thing that in season grows.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
May we not “spend” Christmas or “observe” Christmas, but rather “keep” it.
—Peter Marshall
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, and transport the sailor and the traveler, thousands of miles away, back to his own fireside and his quiet home!
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
If when we judged others, our real motive was to destroy evil, we should look for evil where it is certain to be found, and that is in our own hearts. But if we are on the look-out for evil in others, our real motive is obviously to justify ourselves.
—Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–45) German Lutheran Pastor, Theologian
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?
—Bob Hope (1903–2003) British-born American Comedian
So stick up ivy and the bays, and then restore the heathen ways, green will remind you of the Spring, though this great day denies the thing, and mortifies the earth, and all, but your wild revels, and loose hall.
—Henry Vaughan (1621–95) Anglo-Welsh Metaphysical Poet
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.
—Wilferd Arlan Peterson (1900–95) American Author