A Christmas to Remember

I got this poem on my mission from an Elder and loved to share it as our thought when ever we had dinner with the members around Christmas time. I still love it and so I wanted to share. It seems really long typed out like this but trust me, it's worth it.

A CHRISTMAS TO REMEMBER

Christmas usually makes us think

Of shopping in the snow,

Of caroling, loving, giving, sharing

And that special mistletoe.

It reminds most folks of Santa

And presents 'neath the tree,

And Christmas had always brought

Those same thoughts to me.

But something happened late one night

To change the way I feel,

An unexpected incident

That made the season real.

I had just come from talking

To a real close friend of mine,

We were pondering the season

In a voice much like a whine.

For complaining seems to be the norm

When Christmas gets this near,

'Just can't wait for it to get over'

Is all you ever hear.

Well, it was snowing really hard

I was miserable and cold,

And the packages I had

Were getting awfully hard to hold.

So I thought I'd just stop and sit

While I waited for my ride,

I found a bus stop shelter

I went and sat inside.

My Christmas spirit was not the best

As I shivered from the cold

And all the holly jolly stuff

Was really getting old.

I sat there with my attitude

When I noticed 'cross the street,

A Nativity no one cared for

It looked old and pretty beat.

The thought had crossed my mind,

'How sad, does no one really care

Now that Santa's the important one

To children everywhere.'

People passing, no one cared

The cradle had been tipped,

And the dress on Virgin Mary

Was looking worn and ripped.

I figured, well it's so commercialized

And now Santa is the one,

That children think and care about

'Cause he brings all the fun.

That's all the time I spent on that

So I'm just as guilty too,

Until I saw the incident

That changed my point of view.

I saw a man dressed in a suit

A Santa Clause no less,

He was fixing up the manger scene

And cleaning up the mess.

As I sat there watching him

I didn't feel the cold,

I felt the love and warmth he had

For a birthday long ago.

He looked down at baby Jesus

Then he knelt down reverently

Took his hat from off his head

And laid it crossed his knee.

I heard the prayer he said that night

It's one I'll not forget,

He said, “Bless the children I've not seen

And all the ones I've met.

Please help the parents of these kids

To make them understand,

That You're the reason we are here

I'm just here to lend a hand.”

He Said, “I didn't mean to be important

I didn't mean to be the one,

That everybody thinks of first

When You're the chosen Son.”

He wiped his eyes from tears of love

As he continued on,

“I want the folks to realize

This way they think is wrong.

Please help me have the power

To teach these people true.

That the spirit of the holiday

Is not me but You.

I see in all the homes around

They decorate in me.

I was supposed to be for fun

It's You they need to see.

I'm sorry I'm complaining.”

He said still on one knee,

“I just wish I had the power

To help some of them see.

'For God so loved the world he gave

His only begotten Son'.

How can they compare my gifts

To this special Holy One.

He stopped talking for a moment

Just knelt in fervent prayer.

Beside the manger scene he fixed

With tender loving care.

He put his hat back on his head

Slowly rose up to his feet,

He zipped his coat, said good-bye

Then wandered down the street.

It wasn't 'til that moment

I noticed people everywhere,

They all had stopped to listen

And they had heard that Santa's prayer.

'Cross the way was an apartment

With windows that faced the street

And faces in every window

Probably people he'd never meet.

Will he ever know

The 'power' he received,

If I hadn't seen it for myself

I'm not sure that I'd believed.

But now I knew the 'power'

Is in each and everyone,

As we treat Christmas as a birthday

For an Only Begotten Son.

I know Christmas in our house

Will never be the same again,

It changed one night I heard Santa say,

“In Jesus name, Amen.”

Connie Walker

Christmas 1993