 
MAYBE CHRISTMAS
You may recall from Dr. Seuss's holiday 
We now come upon him as he is leaving
Three thousand feet up!
that no Christmas is coming! They're just waking up! I know just what they'll do! Their mouths will hang open a minute or two Then the Whos down in Who-ville will all cry BOO-HOO!"
"That I simply MUST hear!" So he paused. And the Grinch put his hand to his ear. And he did hear a sound rising over the snow. It started in low. Then it started to grow. . .
Why, this sound sounded merry! It couldn't be so! But it WAS merry! VERY!
The Grinch popped his eyes! Then he shook! What he saw was a shocking surprise! 
the tall and the small, Was singing! Without any presents at all! He HADN'T stopped Christmas from coming! IT CAME! Somehow or other, it came just the same!
grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow, Stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so? It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes or bags!"
till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! "Maybe Christmas" he thought, "doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas. . . perhaps. . .means a little bit more!"
New York: Random House, 1957] 
HAPPY HOLI
DAYS!!! |
"Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
'Maybe
Christmas,' he thought,
'doesn't come from a store.'"
Part of the purpose for telling this story of the Grinch is to remind us that Christmas doesn't come from a store. Indeed, however delightful we feel about it, even as children, each year it "means a little bit more." And no matter how many times we read the biblical account of that evening in Bethlehem, we always come away with a thought—or two—we haven't had before.
Perhaps we can apply this to our own holiday season. Maybe the purchasing and the making and the wrapping and the decorating—those delightfully generous and important expressions of our love at Christmas—should be separated, if only slightly, from the more quiet, personal moments when we consider the meaning of the baby (and his birth) who prompts the giving of such gifts.
But for that very reason, I, like you, need to remember the very plain scene of a night with no tinsel or gift wrapping. Only when we think about that single, sacred, unadorned object of our devotion—the Babe of Bethlehem—will we know why "tis the season to be jolly" and why the giving of gifts is so appropriate.
Later yet the memory of that night would bring Santa Claus and Frosty and Rudolph—and all would be welcome. But first and forever there was just a little family, without toys or trees or tinsel. With a baby—that's how Christmas began!
It is for this baby that we sing in chorus: "Hark! the herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King!. . .Mild he lays his glory by, Born that man no more may die: Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth".
Christmas, then, is for children—of all ages. Maybe that is why my favorite Christmas carol is a child's song.
Away in a manger, No crib for his bed,
The little Lord Jesus Laid down his wee head. . .
I love thee, Lord Jesus, Look down from the sky
And stay by my side Until morning is nigh. . .
Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay
Close by me forever, And love me, I pray;
Bless all the dear children in thy tender care;
And take us to heaven to live with thee there.
HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMASEVERYONE!!
More Holiday Pages
Holiday Magic Of Love
Holiday Candle Light
Beginning To Look Like Xmas
A Gift For You
Christmas Nativity
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