Different attitudes towards Christmas, and we can
some neglect:
the mundane, the apathetic and the commercial,
the trivial (the taverns open late at night)
and childish - but not that of the child
why the candle is a star and the angel explains that all gold
wings in the tree is not only ornamental, but it is an angel.
Watch your child's Christmas Tree:
let your sense of wonder
for the party that is an event and does not excuse
ensure that the swift abduction,
the charm of that first mentioned, surprises, joy
owning the first
(each with its own exciting smell), that aspect
duck or turkey
and the planned surprise when they appeared, so that the
deference and gaiety he did not forget
when he grows up,
in the gray habit, the wear and tear, the tedium,
in knowing how you die, in the sense of defeat, or
the piety of the converted
that can be dyed a vanity
unwelcome to God and disrespectful children
(And here I remember also gently
Saint Lucia, the song, his crown of fire);
Yes, before the end, the
eightieth Christmas (meaning every home end)
put together the memories year after year
focus a great joy which will
also a great fear, as when
the fear went down in the soul of all: why the principle
us will remember the end
and the first and second coming.
Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888-1965), American poet and playwright
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