CELEBRATION
Hymn On The Nativity
JOHN MILTON
It was the winter wild,
While the heaven-born child
All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies;
Nature, in awe of him,
Had doffed her gaudy trim,
With her great Master...
Christmas Eve At Mr Wardle's
From Pickwick Papers
CHARLES DICKENS
From the center of the ceiling of this kitchen, old Wardle had just
suspended with his own hands a huge branch of mistletoe, and this same
branch of mistletoe instantaneous...
A Visit From St Nicholas
CLEMENT C. MOORE
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St...
A Christmas Piece
Of garnered rhyme, from hidden stores of olden time that since the
language did begin, have welcomed merry Christmas in, and made the
winter nights so long, fleet by on wings of wine and song; for when the
snow is ...
Wassailer's Song
ROBERT SOUTHWELL
Wassail! wassail! all over the town,
Our toast it is white, and our ale it is brown;
Our bowl is made of a maplin tree;
We be good fellows all;--I drink to thee.
Here'...
A Carol
And here's a Christmas carol meant for children, and most excellent, and
though the monk that wrote it was hung, yet still his verses may be
sung.
As I in a hoarie winter's night
Stood shivering in ...
Christmas Eve
HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE
[From My Study Fire.]
The world has been full of mysteries to-day; everybody has gone about
weighted with secrets. The children's faces have fairly shone with
expectancy, and I enter easi...
Christmas In The Olden Time
WALTER SCOTT
On Christmas-eve the bells were rung;
The damsel donned her kirtle sheen;
The hall was dressed with holly green;
Forth to the wood did merry men go,
To gather in the mistlet...
Sly Santa Claus
MRS. C.S. STONE
All the house was asleep,
And the fire burning low,
When, from far up the chimney,
Came down a Ho! ho!
And a little, round man,
With a terrible scratching,
...
The Waits
MARGARET DELAND
At the break of Christmas Day,
Through the frosty starlight ringing,
Faint and sweet and far away,
Comes the sound of children, singing,
Chanting, singing,
...
The Knighting Of The Sirloin Of Beef By Charles The Second
ANON
The Second Charles of England
Rode forth one Christmas tide,
To hunt a gallant stag of ten,
Of Chingford woods the pride.
The winds blew keen, the snow fell fast,
And m...
The Christmas Goose At The Cratchits'
CHARLES DICKENS
You might have thought a goose the rarest of all birds; a feathered
phenomenon, to which a black swan was a matter of course; and in truth,
it was something like it in that house. Mrs. Cratchit ma...
Bells Across The Snows
FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL
O Christmas, merry Christmas!
Is it really come again,
With its memories and greetings,
With its joy and with its pain?
There's a minor in the carol,
A...
Christmas Bells
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And tho...
Minstrels And Maids
WILLIAM MORRIS
Outlanders, whence come ye last?
_The snow in the street and the wind on the door._
Through what green seas and great have ye past?
_Minstrels and maids, stand forth on the...
Inexhaustibility Of The Subject Of Christmas
LEIGH HUNT
So many things have been said of late years about Christmas, that it is
supposed by some there is no saying more. O they of little faith! What!
do they suppose that every thing has been said that _can_...
Song Of The Holly
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Blow, blow thou winter wind--
Thou art not so unkind
As man's ingratitude!
Thy tooth is not so keen,
Because thou art not seen,
A...
Under The Holly-bough
CHARLES MACKAY
Ye who have scorned each other,
Or injured friend or brother,
In this fast-fading year;
Ye who, by word or deed,
Have made a kind heart bleed,
Come gather here!
...
Ceremonies For Christmas
ROBERT HERRICK
Come, bring with a noise,
My merry, merry boys,
The Christmas log to the firing,
While my good dame, she
Bids ye all be free,
And drink to your heart's desiri...
Santa Claus
ANON
He comes in the night! He comes in the night!
He softly, silently comes;
While the little brown heads on the pillows so white
Are dreaming of bugles and drums.
He cuts through t...
The Ceremonies For Christmas Day
ROBERT HERRICK
Kindle the Christmas brand, and then
Till sunset let it burn;
Which quench'd, then lay it up again
Till Christmas next return.
Part must be kept wherewith to teend
...
December
HARRIET F. BLODGETT
I
Oh! holly branch and mistletoe.
And Christmas chimes where'er we go.
And stockings pinned up in a row!
These are thy gifts, December!
II
And if ...
The Festival Of St Nicholas
MARY MAPES DODGE
We all know how, before the Christmas-tree began to flourish in the
home-life of our country, a certain right jolly old elf, with eight
tiny reindeer, used to drive his sleigh-load of toys up to ...
The Christmas Holly
ELIZA COOK
The holly! the holly! oh, twine it with bay--
Come give the holly a song;
For it helps to drive stern winter away,
With his garment so sombre and long;
It peeps through ...
To The Fir-tree
FROM THE GERMAN
O Fir-tree green! O Fir-tree green!
Your leaves are constant ever,
Not only in the summer time,
But through the winter's snow and rime
You're fresh and green forever....
The Mahogany-tree
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY
Christmas is here;
Winds whistle shrill,
Icy and chill,
Little care we;
Little we fear
Weather without,
Sheltered about
The Mahogany-Tree.
...
Christmas
WASHINGTON IRVING
But is old, old, good old Christmas gone? Nothing but the hair on
his good, gray, old head and beard left? Well, I will have that,
seeing I cannot have more of him.
...
Church Decking At Christmas
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
Would that our scrupulous sires had dared to leave
Less scanty measure of those graceful rites
And usages, whose due return invites
A stir of mind too natural to deceiv...
So Now Is Come Our Joyfulst Feast
GEORGE WITHER
So, now is come our joyfulst feast,
Let every man be jolly;
Each room with ivy leaves is drest,
And every post with holly.
Though some churls at our mirth repine,
...
Fairy Faces
ANON
Out of the mists of childhood,
Steeped in a golden glory,
Come dreamy forms and faces,
Snatches of song and story;
Whispers of sweet, still faces;
...
Merry Christmas
ANON
In the rush of the merry morning,
When the red burns through the gray,
And the wintry world lies waiting
For the glory of the day;
Then we hear a fitful rushing
Just with...
A Merry Christmas To You
THEODORE LEDYARD CUYLER
My own boyhood was spent in a delightful home on one of the most
beautiful farms in Western New York--an experience that any city-bred
boy might envy. We had no religious festivals except ...
Christmas Bells
ANON
There are sounds in the sky when the year grows old,
And the winds of the winter blow--
When night and the moon are clear and cold,
And the stars shine on the snow,
Or wild is t...
The Birth Of Christ
ALFRED TENNYSON
The time draws near the birth of Christ;
The moon is hid--the night is still;
The Christmas bells from hill to hill
Answer each other in the mist.
Four voices of fo...
The Christmas Carol
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
The minstrels played their Christmas tune
To-night beneath my cottage eaves;
While, smitten by a lofty moon,
The encircling laurels, thick with leaves,
Gave back a...
Christmas At Fezziwig's Warehouse
CHARLES DICKENS
Yo ho! my boys, said Fezziwig. No more work to-night; Christmas Eve,
Dick! Christmas, Ebenezer! Let's have the shutters up, cried old
Fezziwig with a sharp clap of his hands, before a man can say ...
Informational
