Happy Christmas

[peterb]

Peace and Happiness to all HEXITES, wherever you are.

[jim]

Merry Christmas all!

[shelley bda]

Merry Christmas Peter and everyone, hope you all have a fantastic day xx

Me, I'm enjoying the peace while everyone is still in bed

[Phage]

Aye they're not home yet. Still wrapping here !

[dave87]

Merry Christmas everyone

[nibbler]

Merry Christmas! This is the first year where I've woken up on Christmas morning and not had that tingly excited feeling - am I too old for it?

[shelley bda]

Merry Christmas! This is the first year where I've woken up on Christmas morning and not had that tingly excited feeling - am I too old for it?

Never too old for Christmas! Hope you have a great day.

[Ferral]

Happy Christmas everyone

[g8ina]

Morning all, and Merry Christmas all .... Ohh look - a great gift here - conjunctivitis !!

Bum

[Galant]

Merry Christmas!

The sheets were frozen hard, and they cut the naked hand;
The decks were like a slide, where a seaman scarce could stand;
The wind was a nor'wester, blowing squally off the sea;
And cliffs and spouting breakers were the only things a-lee.

They heard the surf a-roaring before the break of day;
But 'twas only with the peep of light we saw how ill we lay.
We tumbled every hand on deck instanter, with a shout,
And we gave her the maintops'l, and stood by to go about.

All day we tacked and tacked between the South Head and the North;
All day we hauled the frozen sheets, and got no further forth;
All day as cold as charity, in bitter pain and dread,
For very life and nature we tacked from head to head.

We gave the South a wider berth, for there the tide race roared;
But every tack we made we brought the North Head close aboard:
So's we saw the cliffs and houses, and the breakers running high,
And the coastguard in his garden, with his glass against his eye.

The frost was on the village roofs as white as ocean foam;
The good red fires were burning bright in every 'long-shore home;
The windows sparkled clear, and the chimneys volleyed out;
And I vow we sniffed the victuals as the vessel went about.

The bells upon the church were rung with a mighty jovial cheer;
For it's just that I should tell you how (of all days in the year)
This day of our adversity was blessèd Christmas morn,
And the house above the coastguard's was the house where I was born.

O well I saw the pleasant room, the pleasant faces there,
My mother's silver spectacles, my father's silver hair;
And well I saw the firelight, like a flight of homely elves,
Go dancing round the china plates that stand upon the shelves.

And well I knew the talk they had, the talk that was of me,
Of the shadow on the household and the son that went to sea;
And O the wicked fool I seemed, in every kind of way,
To be here and hauling frozen ropes on blessèd Christmas Day.

They lit the high sea-light, and the dark began to fall.
'All hands to loose top gallant sails,' I heard the captain call.
'By the Lord, she'll never stand it,' our first mate, Jackson, cried.
… 'It's the one way or the other, Mr. Jackson,' he replied.

She staggered to her bearings, but the sails were new and good,
And the ship smelt up to windward just as though she understood.
As the winter's day was ending, in the entry of the night,
We cleared the weary headland, and passed below the light.

And they heaved a mighty breath, every soul on board but me,
As they saw her nose again pointing handsome out to sea;
But all that I could think of, in the darkness and the cold,
Was just that I was leaving home and my folks were growing old.

Robert Louis Stevenson - Christmas at Sea

[Galant]

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more,
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out thy mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson - Ring Out, Wild Bells

[Galant]

'Twas the night before Christmas, he lived all alone,
in a one bedroom house made of plaster and stone.


I had come down the chimney with presents to give,
and to see just who in this little house lived.


As I looked all about, a strange sight I did see,
No tinsel, no presents, not even a tree.


No Stockings by mantle, just boots filled with sand,
On the wall hung pictures of far distant lands.


With medals and badges, awards of all kinds,
A sobering thought came through my mind.


For this house was different, it was dark and dreary,
The home of a soldier, I could now see clearly.


The soldier lay sleeping, silent, alone,
Curled up on the floor in this one bedroom home.


The face was so gentle, the room in such disorder,
Not how I picture a United States Soldier.


Was this the hero of whom I'd just read?
Curled up on a poncho, the floor for a bed?


I realized the families that I saw this night,
owed their lives to these soldiers who were willing to fight.


Soon round the world, the children would play,
and grownups would celebrate a bright Christmas day.


They all enjoyed freedom each month of the year,
because of the soldiers, like the one lying here.


I couldn't help wondering how many lay alone,
on a cold Christmas Eve in a land far from home.


The very thought brought a tear to my eye,
I dropped to one knee and started to cry.


The soldier awakened and I heard a rough voice,
"Santa don't cry, for this life is my choice".


I fight for freedom, I don't ask for more,
My life is my God, my country, my corps."


The soldier rolled over and drifted to sleep,
I couldn't control it, I continued to weep.


I kept watch for hours, so silent and still,
as we both shivered from the cold night's chill.


I didn't want to leave, on that cold, dark night,
this guardian of honor, so willing to fight.


Then the soldier rolled over, with a voice soft and pure,
whispered, "Carry on Santa...., It's Christmas Day...., All is secure.


One look at my watch, and I knew he was right,
Merry Christmas my friend.... and to all a Good Night.

[Phage]

Kipling & Churchill

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/3955...en-stand-ready

[Pob255]

Did someone get a set of classics for xmas?

Merry christian hijacked pagan winter festival HEXUS

EDIT: just realised I forgot to change my avatar for December

[sammyc]

Merry Xmas & Happy New Year

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]