Christmas Eve The night was cold and very clear, As I walked my homeward way; The stars shone down and added cheer, And lights in the homes so gay. I heard the voices of singing, By the choir of the church nearby; The bells in the steeple were ringing, Christmas Day was surely nigh. The glow on the children's faces, As they strolled along the street; Oh, the love that Christmas embraces, Wherever friends and loved ones meet. The joy of the Christmas season, And all that its meaning imparts; Let us sing Noels with reason, For Christmas begins in your hearts. ~*~ By Faye-Linda McGovern © A Carol for the Children ~*~ by: Ogden Nash God rest you merry, Innocents, Let nothing you dismay, Let nothing wound an eager heart Upon this Christmas day. *** Yours be the genial holly wreaths, The stockings and the tree; An aged world to you bequeths Its own forgotten glee. *** Soon, soon enough come cureller gifts, The anger and the tears; Between you now there sparsely drifts A handful yet of years. *** Oh, dimly, dimly glows the star Through the electric throng; The bidding in temple and bazaar Drowns out the silver song. *** The ancient altars smoke afresh, The ancient idols stir; Faint in the reek of burning flesh Sink frankincense and myrrh. *** Gaspar, Balthazar, Melchior! Where are your offerings now? What greetings to the Prince of War, His darkly branded brow? *** Two ultimate laws alone we know, The ledger and the sword -- So far away, so long ago, We lost the infant Lord. *** Only the children clasp His hand; His voice speaks low to them, And still for them the shining band Wings over Bethlehem. *** God rest you merry, Innocents, While innocence endures, A sweeter Christmas than we to ours May you bequeath to yours. ~*~ The Sugar Plum Tree ~*~ Written by Eugene Field in 1892 As Part of a collection called, "With Trumpet & Drum" Have you ever heard of the Sugar-Plum Tree? 'Tis a marvel of great renown! It blooms on the shore of the Lollipop Sea, In the garden of Shut-Eye town. *** The fruit that it bears is so wondrously sweet, As those who have tasted it say, That good children have only to eat, Of that fruit to be happy next day. *** When you've got to the tree, you would have a hard time, To capture the fruit which I sing; The tree is so tall that no person can climb, To the boughs where the sugar-plums swing. *** But up in that tree sits a chocolate cat, And a gingerbread dog prowls below, And this is the way you contrive to get at, Those sugar-plums tempting you so. *** You say but the word to that gingerbread dog, And he barks with such terrible zest, That the chocolate cat is at once all agog, As her swelling proportions attest. *** And the chocolate cat goes cavorting around, From this leafy limb unto that, And the sugar-plums tumble, of course to the ground, Hurrah for that chocolate cat! *** There are marshmallows, gumdrops and peppermint canes, With stripings of scarlet and gold, And you carry away of that treasure that rains, As much as your apron can hold! *** So come, little child, cuddle closer to me, In your dainty white nightcap and gown, And I'll rock you away to that Sugar-Plum Tree, In the garden of Shut-Eye Town. ~*~