25 Poems of Christmas: December 29

Here is something light-hearted, which, given the title, I should have posted on the 26th, but I hate to give a "gripe list" too much prominence.  This year, pre-Christmas, we had to get it straight with our youngest two that Santa did not bring toys that Mom and Dad did not approve of. When I had told them that they were not getting a Wii this year they figured that they would just appeal straight to the Man in Red.  If you click the title to visit the Poetry Foundation page for this poem, you can also click on the right a link to his funny but slightly naughty  "Swimming Ool".

December 26

BY KENN NESBITT

A BB gun.

A model plane.

A basketball.

A ’lectric train.

A bicycle.

A cowboy hat.

A comic book.

A baseball bat.

A deck of cards.

A science kit.

A racing car.

A catcher’s mitt.

So that’s my list

of everything

that Santa Claus

forgot to bring.

“December 26.” © 2001 by Kenn Nesbitt. Reprinted from The Aliens Have Landed at Our School! (© 2001, 2005 by Kenn Nesbitt) with permission from Meadowbrook Press. 

25 Poems of Christmas: December 28

I read today on my "useless Knowledge" widget that henry Wadsworth Longfellow was the very first American to have indoor plumbing.  while that has nothing at all to do with Christmas or poetry, it made me think to post this poem, which you will know as the lovely and well-known Christmas song.  Longfellow was wildly popular both in his day,  and for many decades after his death, but he has since fallen out of vogue.  Shame, really, but I still love this poem, Stanzas four and five you will not recognize, but they give away the poem as having been written during the Civil War.  


I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
by 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 thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound the carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn, the households born
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”

The Ten Worst Christmas Songs

You probably have you own list of "worst", which I would be delighted to read! These are just the ones that Rob, the kids, and I have been griping about hearing on the radio. So, taking a break from my literary pursuits, here is my list:


10. A Marshmallow World in the Winter-- Having grown up in Florida, I didn't even know what this song was talking about. Even where winters are chilly you are more likely to get " A Mud-Slurpee World" for most of the winter months. 


9. Santa Baby-- I actually like the Eartha Kitt version of this, which is both lighthearted and ironic. But my hubby hates it. Especially in later versions like Madonna and Taylor Swift where the joke is either stale or just plain missed. 


8. Christmas Is... --the Johnny Mathis version. Yuck.


7. Merry Christmas Darling--by the Carpenters. Ditto.


6. Please Daddy Don't Get Drunk This Christmas -- Does anyone remember the John Denver version of this?  It played on the radio all the time when I was a kid.  It still makes me a little nauseous. 


5. River--by Joni Mitchell.  True meaning of Christmas: be depressed, scorn others' holiday preparations, skate. Not too holly-jolly.


4. Wonderful Christmas Time-- Sounds like it took Sir Paul about 5 minute to write this.  

3. Mary Did you Know? See Luke 1: 26-56.  Yeah, she knew.


2. Last Christmas--The best part about this song is that it encouraged my kids to write their own silly lyrics to the tune:
Last Christmas I gave you my heart
The very next day, you ripped  it apart.
Threw it down and stomped it real flat 
Now you're gonna pay for that.


1. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus--As my daughter put it, "Am I the only one who thinks that it would NOT be a laugh if my father caught my mother canoodling with some strange costumed man in our living room?"


Feel free to disagree, but also tell me your favorites.  I will post my own list before New Year's, but here is one. Keep being Merry!

25 Poems of Christmas: December 27

I found this in a book of children's poems this evening as I helped my husband clean out the basement: Favorite Poems for Children, edited by Holly Pell McConnaughy.  I found a perfect poem for today ( at least today in the Northeast!) inside.  


Old Winter
By Thomas Noel

Old Winter sad, in snowy clad,
   Is making a doleful din;
But let him howl till he crack his jowl,
   We will not let him in.

Ay, let him lift from the billowy drift
   His hoary, haggard form,
And scowling stand, with his wrinkled hand
   Outstretching to the storm.

And let his weird and sleety beard
   Stream loose upon the blast,
And, rustling, chime to the tinkling rime
   From his bald head falling fast.

Let his baleful breath shed blight and death
   On herb and flower and tree;
And brooks and ponds in crystal bonds
   Bind fast, but what care we?

Let him push at the door—in the chimney roar,
   And rattle the window-pane;
Let him in at us spy with his icicle eye,
   But he shall not entrance gain.

Let him gnaw, forsooth, with his freezing tooth,
   On our roof-tiles, till he tire;
But we care not a whit, as we jovial sit
   Before our blazing fire.

Come, lads, let’s sing, till the rafters ring;
   Come, pass the can about;—
From our snug fire-side this Christmas-tide
   We’ll keep old Winter out.

25 Poems of Christmas: December 26

Merry Second Day of Christmas! For today the lyrics to one of my favorite Christmas hymns, written by Charles Wesley whose Birthday is just a day after mine! He wrote another version of this same poem which you can read here if you are curious.  Year after year we sing this at Midnight Mass and that last verse still chokes me up.

For Christmas Day: Hark! the Herald Angels Sing

BY CHARLES WESLEY

Hark! the herald Angels sing,

Glory to the new-born King,

Peace on earth and mercy mild,

God and sinner reconcil’d.

      Hark! the herald Angels sing,

      Glory to the new-born King.

Joyful all ye nations rise,

Join the triumph of the skies,

With the angelic host proclaim,

Christ is born in Bethlehem.

      Hark! the herald Angels sing,

      Glory to the new-born King.

Christ by highest Heaven ador’d,

Christ the everlasting Lord!

Late in time behold him come,

Offspring of a virgin’s womb.

      Hark! the herald Angels sing,

      Glory to the new-born King.

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,

Hail, the incarnate Deity,

Pleased as Man with man to dwell,

Jesus our Immanuel!

      Hark! the herald Angels sing,

      Glory to the new-born King.

Hail the Heaven-born Prince of Peace!

Hail the Sun of Righteousness!

Light and life to all he brings,

Risen with healing in his wings.

      Hark! the herald Angels sing,

      Glory to the new-born 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.

      Hark! the herald Angels sing,

      Glory to the new-born King.

25 Poems of Christmas: December 25

Merry Christmas, One and All!

The Burning Babe

BY ROBERT SOUTHWELL, SJ

As I in hoary winter’s night stood shivering in the snow,

Surpris’d I was with sudden heat which made my heart to glow;

And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near,

A pretty Babe all burning bright did in the air appear;

Who, scorched with excessive heat, such floods of tears did shed

As though his floods should quench his flames which with his tears were fed.

“Alas!” quoth he, “but newly born, in fiery heats I fry,

Yet none approach to warm their hearts or feel my fire but I!

My faultless breast the furnace is, the fuel wounding thorns,

Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke, the ashes shame and scorns;

The fuel Justice layeth on, and Mercy blows the coals,

The metal in this furnace wrought are men’s defiled souls,

For which, as now on fire I am to work them to their good,

      So will I melt into a bath to wash them in my blood.”

      With this he vanish’d out of sight and swiftly shrunk away,

      And straight I called unto mind that it was Christmas day.

25 Poems of Christmas: December 24

In the bleak midwinter

BY CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,

In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;

Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.

In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed

The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,

Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;

Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,

The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,

Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;

But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,

Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;

If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;

Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.