A Typical Family Christmas

"Christmas is for children'
I've heard so many say,
Yet old and young are happy,
When remembered Christmas day.

Christmas ties have been a joke,
Each year that they've been worn,
Yet Daddy never fails to find,
One or two on Christmas morn.

Junior gets his electric train,
Christmas number one,
That's so Daddy has a chance,
For a couple years of fun.

Mother hints that winter winds,
Go through her old cloth coat,
But Daddy frowns and shakes his head,
"Furs cost too much"

The children's list runs fortunes long,
And never cease to grow,
That they would do with half the gifts,
I'm sure. I do not know.

The little ones write Santa Clause,
The big ones come to Dad,
Mother looks through catalogues,
And Daddy shakes his head.

Days go by, and weeks do too,
The Day is drawing near,
We get our annual Christmas notes,
From friends, year after year.

We buy a gift for Uncle Jim,
And a shawl for Grandma Blue,
We know she will enjoy it,
And she like the slippers too.

We smile and greet each one we meet,
And wish them joy and health,
And soon we too are happier,
As we think about our wealth,

Oh, not the wealth of millionaires,
Who like to put on airs,
Who drive around in foreign cars,
As though the world was theirs.

But the wealth of health and happiness,
Of home and children too,
Of the precious Presence of The Lord,
Each day, the whole year through.

For a place to worship as we please,
A place to sing and pray,
And for our Christian fellowship,
We share day after day.

As Christmas comes with all It's joy,
And gifts come large and small,
Remember that the Gifts of God,
Are the most precious of them all.

If we could give the finest gift,
That we could ever find,
To those we love and care for,
What would we have in mind?

Jewels and money are not best,
Nor houses, nor of land,
I think the best that I could give,
Is to put them in God's hand.

AUTHOR: Margaret Shankland 1961