Winter Break

This picture of a family at Christmas time is from tlc.howstuffworks.com

You’ve distributed

 the presents.

You’ve recycled

 the paper.

Now

enjoy

the real gift

of the season:

Time

to spend

with the people

you love.     

Think of it as an “after-party.”

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

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One Christmas Wish

You were given one Christmas wish

for our world, what would it be?

I wish no child should go without shelter

and food. Every child would have a home

with plenty of food to eat.

I wish for peace.  No war. War is bad

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and many people die,  I want people

in different countries to be friends forever.

I wish everyone had good health. No cancer,

no disease. People should have fun together

and play and laugh a lot.

I wish for people to stop polluting our world. 

People pollute the water with litter. It is

important for the world to stay clean.

I wish people would do onto others

as they would have them do unto them

I wish everybody could be friends.
 

These wishes were given by children aged nine to eleven, but I couldn’t have said it better myself.

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

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Christmas Mourning

Christmas is everywhere here.

Christmas is nowhere here.

The town Christmas tree

sparkling with light,

standing stoic,

standing beautiful;

facing a cemetery

dotted with new graves.

Keeping traditions from the past.

Needing Christmas more than ever.

Making sure Christmas lives on here

We want the town of Newtown

to remember this Christmas

for the thousand acts of kindness,

not for the singular act of madness.

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

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Christmas this year is tinged with sadness as the nation mourns for Newtown.  Your brave determination to carry on traditions despite your personal grief is a tribute to the human spirit. 

This picture of the Newtown Christmas tree is from USAtoday.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning—

a Fraser fir tucked in the corner,

Grandma’s buttery cookies on the counter

stockings hung from the mantle.

I’m coming home for Christmas.

Flying home Christmas morning,

over the tip of the wing

I’ll catch that first glimpse

of the city I love.

On Christmas morning,

I’ll be scanning the landscape,

for that one particular dot;

even high is the sky,

I’ll now it is the place I call home.

There’s no place like home,

especially for Christmas.

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

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This picture is from http://www.bettyschristmashouse.com/

Books on Beds

 

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Scurrying around

trying to find the perfect gift?

The best gifts are traditions

    with meaning

        and memories.

A Book on Every Bed.

Take a book.

Wrap it.

Leave the book where Santa can find it.

Santa places the book on a child’s bed.

Children awaken to a gift

outlasting any toy—

Literacy

    and the universe of imagination.

My son loved Six by Seusss, when he was little.

I still like hardcover books, but I know kids today have tablets. If your child is getting a Kindle or other tablet for Christmas, why not preload it with some books? Click on the amazon shopping cart (top left) to order e-books or paper books, or even a tablet.

The good thing about kindle books, for kids or for everyone on your shopping list--is that they arrive immediately—you’ll be sure to have it in time for Christmas.  No shipping fees either.

 

For more information about “A Book on Every Bed” project go to familyreading.org.

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

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This picture of a book on a bed is from http://examiner.com

Sally Forth

I like holiday crowds.

I like seeing everyone out and celebrating.

I like seeing everyone getting

      into the spirit of the season.

It’s exciting—

All the hustle and bustle.

I knew I needed a happy poem today. I found one, where else, in the comics section.  The comic strip is named “Sally Forth”. Sally Forth is the lead character in the strip, but the words “sally forth” also mean “saunter out.”  The pun was cheering.  And I do like find the crowds at the mall during the holidays cheering as long as I don’t have a lot of shopping to do.

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

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This picture of a happy Christmas shopper is from www.forbes.com

Teach the Kids the Joy of Giving

Kids want stuff.

Everybody wants stuff.

Turn wanting

into a learning

opportunity.

Teach kids the beauty

of giving;

the pleasure

of giving

to somebody else.

Fun and joy come

from more

than receiving.

It’s not about the gift.  It is about somebody wanting to please you with a gift.  I always try to give something that I know the recipient would like, but probably would not buy for themselves. 

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

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This picture comes from http://www.123rf.com/

Christmas

A Merry Ho-Ho-Ho,
Cheer and Good Will,
Holiday Songs, old and new,
Fun and Merriment—
Christmas.
In our hearts,
the Spirit of the Season.

Enjoy the spirit of the season.

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

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I found this picture at http://www.toledoblade.com

Simplify Christmas

Our annual surrender to Christmas commercialism—

We’re all suckers. 

Sleighs-full of promises.

The promise of perfection.

Perfect Christmas parties.

Perfect gifts.

Perfect meals.

Perfect Hallmark moments.

Promises unfulfilled. 

We want off the holiday ride.

We want simplicity, spirituality.

We want to unplug the Christmas machine.

 

The Black Friday crowds set records. I guess not to many of us really want simplicity.

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

 

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The picture is from http://freebies.about.com