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For those who’ve forgotten, and those who never knew, there is a rich, diverse, and beautiful history of this holiday that has, for over two thousand years, quietly crept up on the others to be one of the most celebrated occasions around the globe. Here’s to remembering why.
‘Twas the night before Christmas, that’s the day Christ was born
There hadn’t been a Christmastide before that Spring morn
But a Yuletide there was, each December up north
As part of the pagan rituals of the Norse
For each winter solstice brought the threat of life’s end
With famine and frostbite as the annual trend
But those Norse never failed to keep spirits up high
They gave thanks to their gods until the ale ran dry
And they chopped down Yule logs from oversized trees
Dragging them home through the snow and the leaves
These logs they would burn for twelve days and twelve nights
While they drank toasts to Odin, and their faithful king’s might
Indeed, all of Europe was drinking their fill
The wines all fermented, and not a drop spilled
But it was further yet south, in the city of Rome
Where pagan traditions first found a new home
In Century Four, the Lord’s birth was declared
A national holiday by the church leaders there
With competing religions and the date up for grabs
The church schemed a plan to make Christmas the fad
Coincide with the pagans, the Catholics declared
So that Jesus might infiltrate their parties and prayers
Thus December was chosen, the twenty-fifth day
To celebrate the birth of a New Man and His Way
But there were strange side effects, for though Christmas caught on
The church couldn’t control others’ customs or songs
Thus the Norse gave to Christmas those Yule logs so thick
While the Lycians invoked a jolly saint they called Nick
Who gave to the needy, the timid and the poor
Putting gold in the shoes that they’d left by their doors
There’s e’en an account, they insist that it’s true
That he once dropped gold coins down a fireplace flue
And they fell into stockings that were hung there to dry
Though nobody since seems to understand why
A man so renowned for his wisdom and love
Was prancing about on the rooftops above
It was all so mysterious, so magical and strange
That folks started rumors to help them explain
So dear old Saint Nick was turned into an elf
With a stable of reindeer, and a sleigh for himself
And the children believed that each cold Christmas night
That same old Saint Nick would fill their hearts with delight
Meanwhile, back at the Middle Ages’ end
The Germans had started the next Christmas trend
Putting apples and candles on evergreen trees
Even in their own homes! if you can believe
This created a business for special treats to be made
To place on the branches, and if the children behaved
They each got a candy, and the most coveted of these
A peppermint stick that looked like snow in the trees
Well, I don’t have to tell you how these sticks have evolved
For I’m sure it’s a riddle that your children can solve
Now somewhere in there, Nick got mixed up with these trees
For presents began to appear underneath
Until people were so taken with that fat, jolly elf
That the meaning of Christmas became personal wealth
Each year lists grew longer so that all the North Pole
Could no longer keep up with all the demands from below
And people forgot all these things of the past
In favor of money and toys that won’t last
Dear Santa was fired by the Corporate Machine
The elves all laid off, on the workshop a lien
While people, instead, looked to cheap warehouse stores
A modern day miracle, God’s gift to the poor
They bought all their goods at a fraction of the price
Ignorant to all someone else sacrificed
The worst part of all, they kicked Jesus out, too
So that Christmas, it seems, now means something new
And now nobody remembers from where Christmas comes
All the festivals and cultures and praise for the sun
Or the charity or giving, how it spread through the land
Then was rightly taken up by our Lord, the Son of Man
Now it’s all about the Benjamins, Bentleys, and bling
And how much in revenues each store can bring
It’s no wonder with all these monetary distractions
We fail to find ourselves with curious reactions
To chopping down trees just to bring them inside
Singing songs about pagans and that thing called Yuletide
Or that rosy old elf whose first name is Saint
Or a babe in a manger looking unusually quaint
So this Christmas my wish is that we’ll stop to remember
The reasons we do what we do each December
To give thanks to the One who saved us from death
Who taught us to love, down to His last breath
Yet even despite how we’ve strayed from His way
If He returned to us now, I think He’d be the one to say
Speaking warmly and clear, with His love shining bright
“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.”