Christmas
My Poem “The Gift of You”
Christmas is a time, Christmas is a season, Christmas is like a tide that slowly rises, overwhelms, and then recedes in the wake of a new year descending... Christmas is different every year for everyone who celebrates it. Christmas can be a different experience depending on how old someone is - when we are young Christmas is a series of magical moments, including: meeting someone dressed in a red suit with a white beard, making a list of things that we want, and receiving presents of all shapes and sizes; but, as we get older, as life goes on, and as we lose people who have always been special to us, Christmas can be a time of reflection, sadness, regret, and longing for what was and missing those who we have lost. Christmas can be a wonderful crossroads of feelings and emotions, of family, of friends, of making the most of what you have, of accepting what are you gifted, and of capturing the spirit of celebration that fills every street and the rooms of every house all around the world... Christmas is when love can be shown and shared... Christmas is when people have to think about others and truly show that they care... Christmas is about the build up to December the 25th - more so, perhaps, that the day itself... Christmas is sometimes more about following long established traditions - whether they are religious in nature, consumeristic, or of keeping alive the memory of people who to us will live on in our mind and in our heart and whose photos will remain long after we take down the festive cards we have received from their shelves. This Christmas, like every Christmas, we all hope for the best and wish to be blessed... this Christmas, like every Christmas, we all sometimes want what we can't have... this Christmas, like every Christmas, people listen to Christmas songs, people watch Christmas movies, and people don Christmas themed attire that they may have been waiting all year to wear every time they have got dressed... every Christmas it is important to make yourself happy, as well as make other people happy, because without thinking outloud and without expressing yourself then it wouldn't truly be Christmas - so give yourself a present, celebrate how you want, and perhaps reach out a hand to others and give them the gift of you this Christmas.
A Poem A Day #67: The Gift of You *Christmas Episode*
My Poem “The Christmas Spirit”
As so often happens, I was sitting at my usual table in Starbucks when a song that I had never heard by one of my favourite artists - the one and the only "Man in Black", Johnny Cash - started to play... the song was "I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day" - and as soon as I heard this Christmas carol in its own right that blessed all who heard it "peace on Earth" and "goodwill to men", I started to think about the true meaning of the season and why music has always been an important way for families and individuals to say what they want to say to one another. Music is just as fundamental to some as living is to breathing for others... the voice of a singer can break down barriers and unite people from many countries, with many accents, with many back stories - who can all find times to set aside their differences whenever they come together and stop and listen to someone with a message they felt within their heart as well as within their mind that someone else needed to hear. Christmas songs are only played at this time of the year, and every year new songs are written and recorded by artists that dream of being number one and perhaps remembered as fondly as those that repeatedly return to our ears year after year; however, I would say there are only a handful of Christmas songs that are enjoyed, replayed, and loved by many: John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over), "Last Christmas" by Wham!, "White Christmas" as sung by Bing Crosby, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" by Band Aid, "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues, and, of course, "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey - because these songs have over time become quintessential in capturing the Christmas spirit like no others are able to, and personally all these songs always put a smile on my face every time I hear them and make me more and more ready for Christmas and overflowing with Christmas cheer.
A Poem A Day #62: The Christmas Spirit
A Poem A Day #59: What I’ve always wanted
My Poem “First Christmas”
I don't remember my first Christmas; but then again, who does? However, I will always remember the first Christmases of others - and Christmas this year will always be special to me, because this year will be the first Christmas of the boy who smiles at me every time I smile at him: my new nephew, Milo. I envy my nephew, because every day he gets to experience things for the first time in his life - and very soon he will get to meet Father Christmas, he will get to receive his first Christmas presents, and he will be able to go out into the snow with his parents and help them build a snowman. This year will be the first time in a long time that our family has welcomed a new addition - and what better time is there for all of us to gather together and around the embodiment of our family's love and affection who is in our eyes nothing short of being an angel who we love nothing more than to see happy and smiling from ear to ear. This year has been a roller-coaster for many people around the world; but, for my family, my nephew Milo has been the miracle that I always knew he would be to us from the moment that he was born - and even though I know that he probably wont remember any of this time when he is older, I hope that he will always think back and know that he was always loved and that if our family had anything to say about it then Milo's first Christmas would be a time in all of our lives that we would never forget.
My Poem “Jingles”
There is a reason why those jingles that we first hear as a child stay with us for so long... there is a reason why those Christmas songs that are replayed on the radio get stuck in our head and then get repeated by us just for fun... there is a reason why a Number One song catches the attention of someone, gets shared, and then goes viral simultaneously all around the world... there is a reason why a certain song sticks out among the crowd of infinite streams that there are and does not fade out of the public consciousness no matter what... there is a reason why we get attached to songs, to artists, to music, to the words of lyrics that seem to say everything that we openly want to convey... there is a reason why when we need to remember something, someone, somewhere, at some time in our life, we fall back upon that spark of magic that can only be experienced by hearing it with your ears as well as feeling it with your heart - that can make you close your eyes, that can take your breath away, and can sometimes give you goose pimples... there is a reason why we hold on to memories of childhood experiences that can easily return to our thoughts after hearing the slightest of jingles.
My Poem “Unbreakable Bond”
On Christmas evening,
as my family and I gathered together
around the hearth of our burning fire,
while enjoying some family time with one another,
I knew that after this day
nothing would ever be the same again
and we would never again
be able do this in the same way:
enjoy a Christmas meal together,
pull crackers with one another,
sit watching a favourite Christmas film of ours –
because what is going to happen next
will be unlike anything that either of us
have felt, heard, or seen before.
Every moment is unique,
every family has their own story,
every new day is a new dawn,
every time you wake up every day
we all have to reset the clock –
just as every player has to do the same
after they move a piece on a chessboard –
and adapt to whatever life has in store:
all the twists, the turns, the corners,
and the constant lessons that we
have to learn from like the constant
students of life’s school that we are.
Next year will be both the end
of one long chapter as well as
the beginning of another stage in life
that will impact so many peoples’ fate…
very soon there will be a sea change
and all predictions of the future
that have been shared will have to be remade;
however, even though I know
some things will be different,
I know now more than ever
that my family and I will always
have an unbreakable bond between us
that is unlike any other in so many
phenomenal and wonderful ways.
My Poem “There is always hope”
When you are a child
there is no more magical
and joyful moment of your life
than around Christmas time
when you get to write a letter
to a man in a red suit, with a white beard,
who on Christmas day will deliver
all that you have been asking for
for perhaps all of the previous months of the year –
and under normal circumstances
there is no one more popular
than the ever jovial Father Christmas/
Santa Claus/Saint Nicholas himself
who children dream about, write to,
and draw pictures of, as well as his
ever present reindeer and his trusted elves.
Christmas is for everybody…
Christmas is full of positive, possibilities,
and you truly start to get into the Christmas spirit
as soon as you start to hang the decorations
upon your newly bought or perhaps your
perennially rediscovered Christmas tree…
Christmas is a season for hope,
optimism, friendship and family…
Christmas is when people need
other people more than anything –
and the greatest gift that you can
give anybody is your time,
because not only is time precious
but it is also free.
Christmas time can sometimes be hard –
even when their isn’t a dark cloud
hovering over every one in every country –
and so many people do not have
the opportunity to be with somebody
on December the 25th,
which is why everybody young and old
need to remind themselves why it is
important to be there for those
who we are blessed to know
as well as for those who may now know
and who may live on their own…
Christmas time should be hopeful
and without fears and tears…
Christmas time should be about
showing love, as well as about being
happy and merry while listening
to Christmas songs that have endured for years…
Christmas time is a wonderful time
that is capable of making anybody
of any age feel as if they are a child…
Christmas time is a whirlwind
of emotions at the best of times,
however when people are at their most
in need of something and someone
to believe in they can look no further
than to whomever matters the most to them
to give them the gift of a Christmas star
to enlighten and to signal that
even on the darkest of nights
there is always hope.
Merry Christmas! 🙂🥳🎄🎊🎋
Mark Hastings 