When Christmas Comes...

When Christmas comes it seems that we try harder to be nice

And give a little more without counting its sacrifice

We think of ways to cheer those who are down on life or love

And sing Joy to the World as if its message was enough

When Christmas comes our hearts are drawn to a kind, simpler way

As on the projector of thought, soft childhood scenes replay

And we, for just a little while, are young as fancy frees

In worlds of cookie-cutter stars and bells and Christmas trees

Christmas, it seems stirs in us something unlike other things

Maybe it is the snow that falls like feathered angel-wings

Or kitchens warm with scents of gingerbread and cinnamon

Or visions of arms open wide to welcome home loved ones

 Maybe it is the starlight strung like midnight chandeliers

Or maybe it’s the charm of bygone days that time endears

Maybe it is the love in the glad tidings of great joy

That heaven lent to earth in a wee Christ-child baby boy

When Christmas comes we think of others more and less of self

As everybody tries to be somebody’s Christmas elf

And for a little while the sorrows of this world are borne

Upon the hope and joy and peace of that first Christmas morn

© Janet Martin