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YULE-SONG: A MEMORY
DECEMBER comes, snows come,
Comes the wintry weather;
Faces from away come --
Hearts must be together.
Down the stair-steps of the hours
Yule leaps the hills and towers --
Fill the bowl and hang the holly,
Let the times be jolly.
Day comes, and night comes
And the guests assemble --
Once again the old dream comes
That I would dissemble.
Falls a shadow 'cross the floor,
Seen! -- and is seen no more.
O that memory would forego
The hanging of the Mistletoe.
William Stanley Braithwaite
To catch the real meaning of the "Spirit of Christmas," we need only to drop the last syllable of the word, and it becomes the "Spirit of Christ." It beckons us to follow him, and become worthy of the blessedness which he promised to the most unlikely peoplethe poor in spirit, the sorrowful, the meek, the seekers after righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and even the persecuted and the oppressed.
Hugh B. Brown
Saint Boniface is said to have substituted a fir tree for the pagan oak in the eighth century as a symbol of faith. Martin Luther fostered the Christmas tree cult by using a candlelit tree as a symbol of Christ's heavenly home, while trees decorated with candles, fruit and paper flowers were introduced into Britain soon after Queen Victoria's marriage.
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