christmas

Even if one is doing nothing more than eating Chinese food with one's Muslim and Jewish friends (don't order the pork lo mein), being together on the longest nights of the year, as the cold sets into the ground and makes it crunch, the warmth inside is infectious and transcendent.

But here I am in July, and why am I thinking about Christmas pudding? Probably because we always pine for what we do not have. The winter seems cozy and romantic in the hell of summer, but hot beaches and sunlight are what we yearn for all winter.

He does not require that we live a perfect life. He only requires that we try to live as He wills. The only way to fail Him is by giving up.

As long as we keep loving, it will always be Christmas.

You wanted a peaceful, comfortable Christmas, with all reminders of poverty, injustice, or other people's griefs well out of sight, so as not to disturb your pleasure. That isn't what Christmas is about, Wallace. Christmas is about offering hope to all people, not just those like ourselves. Christmas is about everyone: rich or poor, friend or stranger. The moment you exclude anyone, you exclude yourself.

Don__ wait until Christmas to show love. You never know those who will breathe their last breath before the sacred season.

Ouch. What is that?___ater, you wimp._ Humor colored his tone and when I looked up, he was smirking again, but this time it was different. He was beaming, radiating__ike he used to.

Of course there is a Santa Claus. It__ just that no single somebody could do all he has to do. So the Lord has spread the task among us all. That__ why everybody is Santa Claus. I am. You are.

I actually hate Christmas," says Eileen. "Everybody has this idea you have to have a good time, like happiness comes in a ruddy packet." Her face is flushed with heat. "One time, I stayed in bed all day. That was one of my best Christmases.

Let's not have forced gaiety this Christmas, said Nora, like it was a dish. We'll have a tiny bit of it, I said.

Merry Christmas!' someone shouted. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. 'Merry Christmas!''Merry Christmas!''C-cookies for ever'body!' Sammy hollered. And looking both ways, they all fled across to the light, and the warmth, and the books, and the mystery.

When you give a gift at Christmas and see the smile of the people you love reflected in their faces, that's magical. It is not about spending a lot of money or buy a gift that is functional, it's just a way to say I love you. Christmas is a symbol of union and joy, Christmas is forgetting self and finding time for others.

The family is the key of Christmas.

The three phases of Santa belief: (1) Santa is real.(2) Santa isn't real.(3) Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

Christmas is God saving mankind from the folly of mankind__ grandiose sense of greatness.

To perceive Christmas through its wrapping becomes more difficult with every year. "The Distant Music of the Hounds," 1954

I walked inside Macy__ and faced the pathetic spectacle of a department store full of shoppers, none of whom were shopping for themselves. Without the instant gratification of a self-aimed purchase, everyone walked around in the tactical stupor of the financially obligated.

Love is a word that can truly change any atmosphere. Love is at the very root of having a positive attitude. To love is to give hope to even the darkest atmosphere. That is why I am so much in Harry Moon__ corner. He really does want to bring light to the darkness.