Christmas--It Is Love (Greatly expanded revision of 'Christmas Is Love')

'Christmas Is Love', a previous post, was handwritten in Aunt Ginnie's yearbook and was transcribed that way.  This poem is an expanded version of that, typed out on paper, which makes it her final version.

The spirit of Christmas is loving,

Then why have it for only a day?

Let us keep it and give and share it--

May it come into our lives to stay.

When the angels brought the good tidings

Of joy--was it just for a day,

Or was it to last through the ages

For friends to love and to pray?

We cannot buy love in the stores,
They never have it for sale;
Friendship is not kept on the shelves
Nor wrapped in a package to mail.

You cannot find understanding

In the rush of the crowded throngs,

But you will find it in the hearts of

                          people,

And that is where it belongs.

The spirit of loving does something

That makes one's eyes fill with tears;

Makes one feel soft, warm, and tingling--

Not just for a day but for years.

It is love that tugs at our heart-strings

As we think of the Babe in the manger,

It is love with its softening influence

That makes us have smiles for the stranger.

May we keep it, live it, and share it,

Through joy, through sorrow, and strife,

That more may believe and not perish,

But have Everlasting Life.

                                                  V.C.