When you stop opening presents and listen, love is what's in the room with you at Christmas - Author unknown

Christmas is not a date. It is a state of mind. - Mary Ellen Chase

When we recall Christmas past, we usually find that the simplest things give off the greatest glow of happiness. -  Bob Hope

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. - Charles Dickens

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.  - Norman Vincent Peale

Christmas is a time when you get homesick - even when you're home.  - Carol Nelson

He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree. - Roy L. Smith

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree:  the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. - Burton Hillis

Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own fire-side and his quiet home! - Charles Dickens

Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.  - Laura Ingalls Wilder

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree.  In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall. - Larry Wilde

Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart. - Washington Irving

Instead of being a time of unusual behavior, Christmas is perhaps the only time in the year when people can obey their natural impulses and express their true sentiments without feeling self-conscious. - Francis C. Farley

It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air. - W.T. Ellis

Christmas means fellowship, feasting, giving and receiving, a time of good cheer, home. - W.J. Ronald Tucker

Even as an adult I find it difficult to sleep on Christmas Eve. Yuletide excitement is a potent caffeine, no matter your age. - Carrie Latet

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love! - Hamilton Wright Mabie

Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away
like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.
The good you do for others is good you do yourself.
 - Norman Wesley Brooks
         
A Christmas candle is a lovely thing;
It makes no noise at all,
But softly gives itself away.
 - Eva Logue

Christmas is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts. - Janice Maeditere

Perhaps the best Yuletide decoration is being wreathed in smiles.  - Author Unknown

The spirit of Christmas fulfils the greatest hunger of mankind. - Loring A. Schuler

Keep your Christmas-heart open all the year round. - Jessica Archmint

Sit with someone special in a room lit only by Christmas tree lights and remember that our blessings outnumber the lights. - Author Unkown

At Christmas play and make good cheer, For Christmas comes but once a year. - Thomas Tusser

Open your presents at Christmastime but be thankful year round for the gifts you receive. - Lorinda Ruth Lowen

At Christmas
A man is at his finest towards the finish of the year;
He is almost what he should be when the Christmas season's here; the's thinking more of others than he's thought the months before, and the laughter of his children is a joy worth toiling for.

He is less a selfish creature than at any other time;
When the Christmas spirit rules him he comes close to the sublime...
- Edgar Guest

It is the one season of the year when we can lay aside all gnawing worry, indulge in sentiment without censure, assume the carefree faith of childhood, and just plain "have fun."  Whether they call it Yuletide, Noel, Weinachten, or Christmas, people around the earth thirst for its refreshment as the desert traveler for the oasis. - D.D. Monroe

May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace,
The gladness of Christmas give you hope,
The warmth of Christmas grant you love.
~Author Unknown

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The earth has grown old with its burden of care, but at Christmas it always is young. - Phillips Brooks

Wouldn't life be worth the living
Wouldn't dreams be coming true
If we kept the Christmas spirit
All the whole year through?
~Author Unknown

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags.  And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. - Dr. Seuss

Christmas - that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance.  It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance - a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved. - Augusta E. Rundel

Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas. - Peg Bracken.

Christmas! The very word brings joy to our hearts. No matter how we may dread the rush, the long Christmas lists for gifts and cards to be bought and given--when Christmas Day comes there is still the same warm feeling we had as children, the same warmth that enfolds our hearts and our homes. -  Joan Winmill

Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won't make it 'white'. -  Bing Crosby

It is the personal thoughtfulness, the warm human awareness, the reaching out of the self  

At Christmas, all roads lead home. - Marjorie Holmes

My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that? -  Bob Hope

Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we're here for something else besides ourselves. -  Eric Sevareid

The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others' burdens, easing other's loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of Christmas. -  W. C. Jones

Were I a philosopher, I should write a philosophy of toys, showing that nothing else in life need to be taken seriously, and that Christmas Day in the company of children is one of the few occasions on which men become entirely alive. -  Robert Lynd 

Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect. - Oren Arnold

The perfect Christmas tree? All Christmas trees are perfect! - Charles N. Barnard

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love. - Hamilton Wright

Christmas is, of course, the time to be home - in heart as well as body. -  Garry Moore

Christmas is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace. -  Agnes M. Pahro

I truly believe that if we keep telling the Christmas story, singing the Christmas songs, and living the Christmas spirit, we can bring joy, happiness and peace to this world. -  Norman Vincent Peale

Mankind is a great, an immense family... This is proved by what we feel in our hearts at Christmas. -  Pope John XXIII

One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don't clean it up too quickly. -  Andy Rooney 

Christmas--that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance--a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved. - Augusta E. Rundell

Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone. - Charles Schulz

As long as we know in our hearts what Christmas ought to be, Christmas is. - Eric Sevareid

Christmas is a day of meaning and traditions, a special day spent in the warm circle of family and friends. - Margaret Thatcher

At Christmas play and make good cheer, For Christmas comes but once a year. -  Thomas Tusser

Like snowflakes, my Christmas memories gather and dance - each beautiful, unique and too soon gone. -  Deborah Whipp

A scientist said, "The very best way to send an idea is to wrap it up in a person." That was what happened at Christmas. The idea of divine love was wrapped up in a Person. - Halford E. Luccock

A white Christmas fills the churchyard. - French Proverb

And the angel said unto them, Fear not! For, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. - Luke 2:10-12

Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world - stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death - and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love? Then you can keep Christmas. - Henry Van Dyke

As we struggle with shopping lists and invitations, compounded by December's bad weather, it is good to be reminded that there are people in our lives who are worth this aggravation, and people to whom we are worth the same. - Donald E. Westlake

Ask your children two questions this Christmas. First: "What do you want to give to others for Christmas?" Second: "What do you want for Christmas?" The first fosters generosity of heart and an outward focus. The second can breed selfishness if not tempered by the first. - Anonymous

Bless us Lord, this Christmas, with quietness of mind; Teach us to be patient and always to be kind. - Helen Steiner Rice

Christmas day is a day of joy and charity. May God make you very rich in both. - Phillips Brooks

Christmas ... is not an eternal event at all, but a piece of one's home that one carries in one's heart. - Freya Stark

Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. - Calvin Coolidge

Christmas is not just a time for festivity and merry making. It is more than that. It is a time for the contemplation of eternal things. The Christmas spirit is a spirit of giving and forgiving. - J. C. Penney

Christmas is the day that holds all time together. - Alexander Smith

Christmas is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas. - Dale Evans Rogers

Christmas! The very word brings joy to our hearts. No matter how we may dread the rush, the long Christmas lists for gifts and cards to be bought and given - -when Christmas Day comes there is still the same warm feeling we had as children, the same warmth that enfolds our hearts and our homes. - Joan Winmill Brown

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. - Norman Vincent Peale

For many of us, sadly, the spirit of Christmas is "hurry". And yet, eventually, the hour comes when the rushing ends and the race against the calendar mercifully comes to a close. It is only now perhaps that we truly recognize the spirit of Christmas. It is not a matter of days or weeks, but of centuries - nearly twenty of them now since that holy night in Bethlehem. Regarded in this manner, the pre - Christmas rush may do us greater service than we realize. With all its temporal confusion, it may just help us to see that by contrast, Christmas itself is eternal. - Burton Hills

From home to home, and heart to heart, from one place to another. The warmth and joy of Christmas, brings us closer to each other. - Emily Matthews

Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas. - Peg Bracken

Good news from heaven the angels bring,
Glad tidings to the earth they sing:
To us this day a child is given,
To crown us with the joy of heaven.
- Martin Luther

Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home! - Charles Dickens

Heap on the wood! - the wind is chill; But let it whistle as it will, We'll keep our Christmas merry still. - Sir Walter Scott

I am not alone at all, I thought. I was never alone at all. And that, of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the word seemingly most indifferent. For this is still the time God chooses. - Taylor Caldwell

"I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good - will to men!
- Longfellow

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. - Charles Dickens

I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month. - Harlan Miller

If there is no joyous way to give a festive gift, give love away. - Unknown

Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide open heart that thinks of others first. The birth of the baby Jesus stands as the most significant event in all history, because it has meant the pouring into a sick world of the healing medicine of love which has transformed all manner of hearts for almost two thousand years... Underneath all the bulging bundles is this beating Christmas heart. - George Mathhew Adams

Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, Love Divine;
Love was born at Christmas;
Star and angels gave the sign.
- Christina Rossetti

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. - Matthew 2:1-2

One of the nice things about Christmas is that you can make people forget the past with a present. - Author Unknown

Peace on earth will come to stay, when we live Christmas every day. - Helen Steiner Rice

Perhaps the best Yuletide decoration is being wreathed in smiles. - Unknown

Probably the reason we all go so haywire at Christmas time with the endless unrestrained and often silly buying of gifts is that we don't quite know how to put our love into words. - Harlan Miller

Selfishness makes Christmas a burden, love makes it a delight. - Unknown

Somehow, not only for Christmas, But all the long year through, The joy that you give to others, Is the joy that comes back to you. And the more you spend in blessing, The poor and lonely and sad, The more of your heart's possessing, Returns to you glad. - John Greenleaf Whittier

The merry family gatherings - the old, the very young; the strangely lovely way they harmonize in carols sung. For Christmas is tradition time - traditions that recall the precious memories down the years, the sameness of them all. - Helen Lowrie Marshall

The rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting. - Louisa May Alcott

There is no ideal Christmas; only the one Christmas you decide to make as a reflection of your values, desires, affections, traditions. - Bill McKibben

Time was with most of us, when Christmas Day, encircling all our limited world like a magic ring, left nothing out for us to miss or seek; bound together all our home enjoyments, affections, and hopes; grouped everything and everyone round the Christmas fire, and make the little picture shining in our bright young eyes, complete. - Charles Dickens

"'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring - not even a mouse:
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there. - Clement C. Moore

Two things upon this changing earth can neither change nor end; the splendor of Christ's humble birth, the love of friend for friend. - Unknown

Until one feels the spirit of Christmas, there is no Christmas. All else is outward display - so much tinsel and decorations. For it isn't the holly, it isn't the snow. It isn't the tree not the firelight's glow. It's the warmth that comes to the hearts of men when the Christmas spirit returns again. - Unknown

Whatever else be lost among the years, Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing: Whatever doubts assail us, or what fears, Let us hold close one day, remembering Its poignant meaning for the hearts of men. Let us get back our childlike faith again.
- Grace Noll Crowell

Jesus is the reason for the season!

The only blind person at Christmastime is he who has not Christmas in his heart. - Helen Keller

There is no name so sweet on earth,
no name so sweet in heaven,
The name, before His wondrous birth,
to Christ the Savior given.
--George W. Bethune
 
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 can I give Him?
I give Him my heart.
--Christina Rossetti

A Christian is one who makes it easier for other people to believe in God.

Keeping Christmas is good, but sharing it with others is even better.

A joy that is shared is a joy made double.- John Roy

God grant you the light in Christmas, which is faith;
the warmth of Christmas, which is love;
the radiance of Christmas, which is purity;
the righteousness of Christmas, which is justice;
the belief in Christmas, which is truth;
the all of Christmas, which is Christ.
 - Wilda English

It is not the gift, but the thought that counts.

Remembrance, like a candle, burns brightest at Christmastime. - Charles Dickens

Christmas living is the best kind of Christmas giving. - Van Dyke

The way you spend Christmas is far more important than how much. - Henry David Thoreau

The way to Christmas lies through an ancient gate....It is a little gate, child-high, child-wide, and there is a password:  "Peace on earth to men of good will." May you, this Christmas, become as a little child again. - Angelo Patri

Giving yourself is the greatest gift of all.
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can!
- John Wesley

The hinge of history is on the door of a Bethlehem stable. - Ralph W. Sockman

Christmas is a spark that ignites in someone's heart.

Selfishness makes Christmas a burden; Love makes it a delight.

The joy of brightening a child's heart creates the magic of Christmas. - W. C. Jones

The very purpose of Christ's coming into the world was that He might offer up His life as a sacrifice for the sins of men. He came to die. This is the heart of Christmas. - Rev. Billy Graham

So remember while December
Brings the only Christmas Day,
In the year let there be Christmas
In the things you do and say;
Wouldn't life be worth the living
Wouldn't dreams be coming true
If we kept the Christmas spirit
All the whole year through?
- unknown

If we think of our heart,
rather than our purse,
as the reservoir
of our giving,
we shall find it
full all the time!
- David Dunn

It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you...yes, it is Christmas every time you smile at your brother and offer him your hand. - Mother Teresa

It comes every year and will go on forever. And along with Christmas belong the keepsakes and the customs. Those humble, everyday things a mother clings to, and ponders, like Mary in the secret spaces of her heart. - Marjorie Holmes

Each day of the holidays comes bringing its’ own gifts. Open your heart, untie the ribbons, and enjoy the contents!

Were earth a thousand times as fair
Beset with gold and jewels rare
She yet were far too poor to be
A narrow cradle,
Lord, for Thee.
- Martin Luther
 
Love and life
That's why He came, and what He offers,
Christmas isn't just for children.
It's for the world.
 
A little child
a shining star
a stable rude,
the door ajar.
Yet in that place
so crude, forlorn,
The Hope of all
the world was born.
- Anonymous

Christmas began in the heart of God. It is complete only when it reaches the heart of man. - Anonymous

Thanks be to God for His unspeakable Gift--
indescribable
inestimable
incomparable
inexpressible
precious beyond words.
- Lois Lebar

It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty founder was a child himself. - Charles Dickens

Christmas is not just a day, an event to be observed and speedily forgotten. It is a spirit which should permeate every part of our lives. - William Parks

It was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, "God Bless Us, Every One! - Charles Dickens