December 19, 1968

          "O, Christmas Tree, 

          O, Christmas Tree, 

          Much pleasure thou canst give me." 

          The stacks of Christmas trees piled in store parking lots have been diminishing. Each tree has left to help make Christmas memories in some home. 

          This year our tree stands big and full and represents many years of growth. Unless you have had some experience with evergreen seedlings, you may not realize that a Christmas tree isn't grown in a year. And they haven't the hardiness of the prolific Chinese elm! 

          The little evergreen seedlings we planted in our windbreak about ten years ago still haven't reached Christmas tree size; many of them just didn't make it at all. 

          As I decorated our Christmas tree, I recalled days long ago when Grandma had candles on her tree, and we would string popcorn and cranberries for decorations...and the church bells would ring out on Christmas Eve, and everyone would sing "Jeg ar saa glad vaar Julekveld". 

          The decorations have changed as the years have passed, but when the Christmas tree goes up, it still makes the whole house take on the feeling of Christmas...and Christmas carols. 

          WE ALL have our Christmas memories, not only the happy, but also the sad - of years when a familiar face was missing or we were far from home. Even now, as we look around us and hear news reports of hate, we wonder why these things need be at Christmas time. But the world wasn't in any better shape that first Christmas. 

A Shepherd's Memories

     I sat and brooded at end of day... 

What was the world coming to, anyway? 

The price of sheep 

our land oppressed, 

God has forgotten us, I guessed. 

But then I heard an angel say, 

"See WHAT has come to the world      

today!" 

I saw and smiled 

My world was new 

God had whispered "I love you!"  

(John 3:16) 

          May this Christmas leave you with many blessed and precious memories! Merry Christmas! 

December 22, 1966 

'Twas the night before Christmas

and down on our farm

The barnyard lay basking in its  

usual calm. 

But Christmas made everything  

different tonight. 

It invaded my thoughts and  

brought me delight. 

Now all my wandering eye could  

perceive 

Reminded me of the first Christ- 

mas Eve. 

The manger was here with the  

sweet-smelling hay. 

(I envisioned the Babe who that  

night in there lay.) 

A cow, chewing her cud, turned  

'round to stare 

When she discovered me standing  

there. 

She looked so wise. 

I could but surmise she was trying  

to say, 

"My ancestor was there that  

first Christmas day.   

She gave up her stall as a gift  

for the King.   

Now, may I ask, have you  

given anything?"  

No donkey have we - but our  

pony's the size 

Of the one that bore Mary  

Bethlehem-wise. 

Our one pet sheep nudged and  

whispered to me 

"My forefathers were there on the hills to see

The angel hosts sing and make  

the sky bright.  

Have you heard their message  

and worshiped tonight?"  

The dogs keep watch the long  

night through 

And the kittens purr, "I'm glad to  

see you." 

Yes, the barnyard is always a  

friendly place 

And it must have been so in the  

Christ-child's days. 

'Twas here God delivered His son  

to this earth 

And the friendly animals greeted  

His birth. 

May the joys of Christmas delight your eyes, ears and palate - But most of all, your heart. 

December 25, 1969

          The days pass so quickly in December that we sometimes wonder if we are being short-changed.  Are there really twenty-four sixty-minute hours in each December day? 

          Before Christmas we need long days in order to get everything accomplished, and when Christmas is here and the family is together, we wish the days would never end.  The only way we can lengthen them is by turning them into happy memories that can be relived, remembered and enjoyed at later times.    

          "HE'S JUST a old farmer!" 

          We've all heard this remark, and to some people farming is about as high on the totem pole of professions as sheep herding was nineteen hundred years ago.  Tending sheep was a lowly occupation in those days.  And yet, it is the shepherds that we sing about every Christmas - not the tentmakers or the shop-keepers or the fishermen.  It is the shepherds that have a prominent place in the Christmas story. 

          Both shepherds and farmers are not beyond believing in miracles.  Each year they see their seeds and animals multiply and the dead black earth turn to green feed for their animals. 

          Shepherds had to be brave.  They kept watch on their sheep twenty-four hours a day, and they had no guns with which to shoot prowling animals.  They had to rely upon their own strength, their rod and staff, and perhaps a faithful dog.

          The shepherds were humble people, and had no grand illusions about their occupation.  But we shouldn't sell the shepherds short. 

     SUPPOSE . . . . 

While caring for your pigs one  

night an angel host appeared, 

would you be scared? 

IF . . . . . 

They announced a Savior's birth and invited you to see, 

would you go immediately? 

WHEN . . . .  

You had gazed upon the baby's face and your heart was all aglow, 

would you let your whole world know? 

The Shepherds did. 

     May your Christmas end as happily as the shepherds' Christmas.  

          "And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them."          Luke 2:20