And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us

Instead of a Christmas card, this post comes with love for all of you, and thanks for visiting my blog this year.

And is it true? and is it true?
The most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained-glass window's hue,
A Baby in an ox's stall?
The Maker of the stars and sea
Become a Child on earth for me?

And is it true? For if it is,
No loving fingers tying strings
Around those tissued fripperies,
The sweet and silly Christmas things,
Bath salts and inexpensive scent
And hideous tie so kindly meant.

No love that in a family dwells,
No carolling in frosty air,
Nor all the steeple-shaking bells
Can with this single Truth compare -
That God was Man in Palestine
And lives to-day in Bread and Wine.

from Christmas by John Betjeman

The lines from Betjeman are, I know, not the newest or freshest of Christmas expressions, but I will always remember hearing the whole poem for the first time at my school's carol service the year I was 12, and going straight to the library to copy it out and learn it by heart so that I could share it with my parents on Christmas Eve.
So for me it is, like the slightly tarnished decorations on our tree, a link with a precious bit of my past...and, of course, Christmas is a time when past and present touch gently by candlelight. Blessings my friends xxx