Finding Christmas

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.

What Makes Christmas

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

"What makes Christmas?"

I asked my soul,

And this answer came back to me:

"It is the Glory of heaven

Come down in the hearts of humanity---

Come in the spirit and heart of a Child,

And it matters not what we share

At Christmas; it isn't Christmas at all

Unless the Christ child be there."

A Shakespearean Christmas

Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes, 

Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,

The bird of dawning singeth all night long;

And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad; 

The nights are wholesome;

then no planets strike

No fairy takes,

nor witch hath power to charm,

So hallowed, and so gracious is the time.

~William Shakespeare

(Hamlet: Act 1, Scene 1)

Christmas Blessings

What a blessing Christmas is! What it does for friendship! Why, if there were no Christmas...we'd have to invent on, for it is the one season of the year when we can lay aside all gnawing worry, indulge in sentiment without censure, assume the carefree faith of childhood, and just plain "have fun." Whether they call it Yuletide, Noel, Weihnachten, or Christmas, people around the earth thirst for its refreshment as the desert traveler for the oasis. ~D.D. Monroe

Christmas Memories

Memories are the key not to the past, 

but to the future. ~Corrie Ten Boom

It's true, Christmas can feel like a lot of work, particularly for mothers. But when you look back on all the Christmases in your life, you'll find you've created family traditions and lasting memories. Those memories, good and bad, are really what help keep a family together over the long haul. ~Caroline Kennedy

Christmas Feelings

Christmas isn't a season. It's a feeling. ~Edna Ferber

Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever... it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything. ~Aaron Siskind

Christmas Charity

Christmas is a season for kindling the fire 

for hospitality in the hall, the genial flame 

of charity in the heart. ~Washington Irving

If you haven't got any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble. ~Bob Hope

Christmas Giving

The excellence of a gift lies in its

appropriateness rather than in its

value. ~Charles Dudley Warner

Christmas is a tonic for our souls. It moves us

to think of others rather than ourselves. 

It directs our thoughts to giving. ~B.C. Forbes

Christmas Joy

Christmas is joy, religious joy, an inner 

joy of light and peace. ~Pope Francis

Christmas is doing a little something 

extra for someone. ~Charles M. Schulz

The Christmas Season

Christmas is a season not only of rejoicing

but of reflection. ~Winston Churchill

It is a fine seasoning for joy to think 

of those we love. ~Moliere

Spirit of Christmas

The spirit of Christmas is the spirit of love

and of generosity and of goodness. It illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world's busy life and become more interested in people than in things. ~Thomas S. Monson

Christmas Magic

Christmas waves a magic wand over this

world, and behold, everything is softer and

more beautiful. ~Norman Vincent Peale

Breaking Free

We can raise our sights high when we're willing to break free from being conformists who live a conventional life simply because we are too afraid to express our uniqueness. ~Alexandra Stoddard

We need creativity in order to break free from the temporary structures that have been set up by a particular sequence of experience. ~Edward de Bono

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Grateful Thoughts

It is just that we should be grateful, not only

to those with whose views we may agree, but also 

to those who have expressed more superficial views; for these also contributed something, by developing before us the powers of thought. ~Aristotle

I am grateful for what I am and have. My

thanksgiving is perpetual. ~Henry David Thoreau

Understanding Challenges

Our uniqueness, our individuality, and our

life experience molds us into fascinating

beings. I hope we can embrace that. I pray

we may all challenge ourselves to delve into

the deepest resources of our hearts to cultivate an atmosphere of understanding,

acceptance, tolerance, and compassion. We

are all in this life together. ~Linda Thompson

Acceptance doesn't mean resignation; it means understanding that something is what it is and that there's got to be a way through it. ~Michael J. Fox

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Give Thanks

When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. ~Tecumseh

Gratitude is the fairest blossom which

springs from the soul. ~Henry Ward Beecher

Life is a Song...Sing It

The good life is one inspired by love 

and guided by knowledge. ~Bertrand Russell

Life is a song...sing it. Life is a game...play

it. Life is a challenge...meet it. Life is a

dream...realize it. Life is a sacrifice...offer

it. Life is love...enjoy it. ~Sai Baba

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Gracious Flame

At times our own light goes out and is 

rekindled by a spark from another person.

Each of us has cause to think with deep

gratitude of those who have lighted the

flame within us. ~Albert Schweitzer

Gratitude is the sign of noble souls. ~Aesop

Finding Our Capabilities

Our work is the presentation of our

capabilities. ~Edward Gibbon

If human beings are perceived as potentials

rather than problems, as possessing

strengths instead of weaknesses, as

unlimited rather that dull and unresponsive,

then they thrive and grow to their

capabilities. ~Barbara Bush

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Autumn Acts

Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude.

Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness.

Thankfulness may consist merely of words.

Gratitude is shown in acts. ~Henri Frederic Amiel

My sorrow, when she's here with me, 

thinks these days of autumn rain are

beautiful as days can be; she loves the bare,

the withered tree; she walks the sodden

pasture lane. ~Robert Frost

Overcoming the Impossibilites

Permanence, perseverance and persistence

in spite of all obstacles, discouragements,

and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul 

from the weak. ~Thomas Carlyle

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Autumn Time

I trust nature for the stable laws of beauty

and utility. Spring shall plant and autumn

garner to the end of time. ~Robert Browning

Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow

behind. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

Fight

Happiness is dependent on self-discipline. We are the biggest obstacles to our own happiness. It is much easier to do battle with society and with others than to fight our own nature. ~Dennis Prager

Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams. ~Ashley Smith

Gratitude

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. 

It turns what we have into enough, and 

more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos

to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn 

a meal into a feast, a house into a home, 

a stranger into a friend. ~Melody Beattie

Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness

received. Thankfulness is the natural

impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse. ~Henry Van Dyke

Optimism

Optimism is the faith that leads to

achievement. Nothing can be done without

hope and confidence. ~Helen Keller

The essence of optimism is that it takes 

no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, 

to claim the future for himself and not to

abandon it to his enemy. ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Knowledge

Knowledge is the eye of desire and can

become the pilot of the soul. ~Will Durant

Even the knowledge of my own fallibility

cannot keep me from making mistakes. Only

when I fall do I get up again. ~Vincent Van Gogh

Grace

Each day offers us the gift of being a special occasion if we can simply learn that as well as giving, it is blessed to receive with grace and a grateful heart. ~Sarah Ban Breathnach

Learn to... be what you are, and learn to resign with a good grace all that you are not. ~Henri Frederic Amiel

Confidence

 You gain strength, courage, and confidence by 

every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 

'I lived through this horror. I can take the

next thing that comes along.' ~Eleanor Roosevelt

Confidence... thrives on honesty, on honor,

on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful

protection and on unselfish performance.

Without them it cannot live. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt

Attitude

You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you. ~Brian Tracy

Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens. ~Khalil Gibran

Possible

The limits of the possible can only be defined by going beyond them into the impossible. ~Arthur C. Clarke

Every day we should hear at least one little

song, read one good poem, see one exquisite

picture, and, if possible, speak a few

sensible words. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe