Christmas on a Budget

all we need to know about Christmas

12-11-22

Here is the final stanza of my favorite Christmas song, "In the Bleak Midwinter," which first came to life as a poem by Christina Rossetti:

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;|
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him:
I will give my heart.

I usually put off listening to Christmas music until December rather than risk familiarity lessening its power to enrich my spirits, but this year I started in October while recovering from pneumonia, and about the tenth time I heard "In the Bleak Midwinter", I caught on to its meaning, and its relevance.

When I figuratively give "my heart" I literally give my love. And since "In this the love of God was made manifest among us: that God sent his only Son into the world" (1 John 4: 8), the appropriate Christmas gift (in return, if you will) is love.

I know that may seem simplistic, but to approach every gift as an expression of love can help us — no matter how modest our budget — obey those billboards that command us to put Christ back into Christmas,

Happy forever.

Ken