CHRISTMAS
by Kathy Dillenbeck
December 5, 1993
Christmas season's growing near, as we can plainly see,
In the brightly-colored, twinkling lights that adorn each Christmas tree.
But what does Christmas mean these days to the people of this land?
Is it what you give and what you get? I want to understand.
Is Christmas just the presents that we give to one another
To demonstrate how much we love our sister and our brother?
Is Christmas just old Santa Claus, who visits in his sleigh,
With bags of toys he brings to kids the eve 'fore Christmas day?
Is Christmas just the packages we place beneath the trees,
Or those we hide around the house in hopes that no one sees?
Is Christmas just a time to please the shopkeepers and merchants
When half their sales for the whole year they persuade us all to purchase?
Is Christmas just a time for food and fun and merry-making,
A good excuse for parties and for that drink that you are taking?
Is Christmas just a time for all the folks to get together
To talk about the ones not there and sports and, maybe, weather?
Is Christmas just a time we get a few days off from school,
A time when it would seem that he who has the gold does rule?
Is Christmas just a time when all our companies allow us
An extra holiday and, if we're lucky, a great bonus?
Is Christmas just a time when many people fight depression,
A time for extra stress and strain? One could get that impression.
Is Christmas just a time when we go out in groups together,
And sing from house to house regardless of the kind of weather?
Is all of this what Christmas means? Let's really think about it.
Why do we give each other gifts, and make so much about it?
The gifts we give in honor of our risen Lord Christ Jesus
Who came on that first Christmas day that He might from sin free us.
The gift He came to earth to give that cost our Lord His all
Should cause us all to contemplate
This Christmas free-for-all.