I’m writing this at 7:30 on Christmas Eve, but you’ll only see this on Christmas day. (Thank you, WordPress’s scheduling feature.) I’m sitting in a recliner in the hospital, and we’re quietly celebrating the birth of our first son.

I’m going to pretty much leave it at this, with one of my favorite poems/hymns. It is very much descriptive of how I feel about the world quite often at Christmas!

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!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

 

Merry Christmas!