Christmas 2015

That First Christmas
~Ruth Kephart~

It’s Christmas Eve in our old house
The tree and wreaths look swell
They stand in splendor all their own
Adorned and tinseled well

The carolers have been around
To laud us with their songs
The Christmas play at church is through
The stores void of their throngs

Here in the hush of twilight’s hour
I ponder years ago
Back to a Christmas where there was
No tree or falling snow

There was no tinsel, jingle bells,
No reindeer and no sleigh
Only a loaned out cattle shed
And manger full of hay

But in that lowly, simple crèche
More fit for beast than king
The shepherds found the babe of whom
They’d heard the angels sing

For Christmas came on that still morn
Without a “Christmas tree”
Without a Santa and his sleigh
With gifts for you and me

That Christmas came as was foretold
In God’s own splendid way
The first and the most precious gift –
A babe laid on the hay
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As you celebrate this most precious of Holydays, don’t forget to
ponder that first Christmas. Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year