We have a Christmas Eve tradition of sharing songs and stories. While we were all together this year in Seattle, I pulled out a 20-year-old note from Grandpa Gordon in which he shared a Christmas poem (and sent a copy to each of our children at the time -- Marie, Matthew, Lauren and Emily). It was 1991 when Grandpa sent the note, but the poem he shared was written while Tracy was in college at Cal State - Long Beach, some time before his mission. I'm guessing he was about 19-years-old when he wrote this:
Why Celebrate?
by Tracy Anderson Allred
Now let's not forget
at this Christmas season,
That we celebrate
for a special reason.
Our motive is not
that relations will gather,
nor's the semester's end
a contributing factor
It also is not
the gifts we perceive,
And certainly not those
that we always receive.
But rather our cause
for such great joy,
Should stem from the fact
"The birth of a boy."
This boy lived His life
from birth till death,
Simply to give man
the gift of eternal breath
Yes, our celebration's cause
should stem from the fact,
That He was born
to do this noble act.
I wanted to save this here on my blog since I finally (this year) gave the original copies to MMLE. Thanks for taking a small peek with me into our Christmas celebrations - past and present.
love the picture mom :) and love the poem too :) This was such a wonderful Christmas this year and I'm glad that you guys got home safely! And I will send you whatever picture that you want :)
ReplyDeleteLove that poem, and that we each got the original letter from grandpa :) loved spending Christmas with you guys... Can't wait til we can do it again :)
ReplyDeleteI love this poem! I'm so thankful to have my very own copy. ;)
ReplyDeleteP.S. Dad tells me he was almost 18, a freshman in college, when he wrote this poem for an English class at Cal State Long Beach.
ReplyDelete