Recipe for Christmas

My earliest Christmas poem, circa 1992, is still one of my favorites:

Recipe for Christmas

by

Gary Van Buren

Take the first Christmas snowflake that falls within your sight

And add it to the Christmas pie you eat on Christmas night

Then add a heaping help of love for you and all your friends

With just a dash of Christmas cheer to help us make amends

Then stir in some Christmas songs; we'll add both old and new

Those yuletide hymns from times gone by, and pop and country too

We'll roast some chestnuts by the fire, then add, say, half a cup

Good will and charity around the world will fill all bellies up

Then we'll add a Christmas tree, complete with ornaments

And odor of pine trees and turkeys, and other Christmas scents

We'll add the entertainment, like Frosty, Scrooge, and the Grinch

They make us laugh, they make us think; we'll add but just a pinch

We'll mix in jolly Santa Claus, his elves and reindeer too

Including the tale of Rudolph; yes, we all know it's true!

We'll even add consumers buying gifts at all the stores

Having fun, thinking of loved ones, as they attend to shopping chores

But there is one final ingredient; the one we must think of most:

God the Father, Jesus the Son, and of course, the Holy Ghost

For Jesus was born on this divine night, 'tis His birthday which we celebrate

Without Baby Jesus, there could be no Christmas recipe for our plate!