We Wish You a Merry Christmas (All Year)

When I was a little girl, one of the most special women in my life was my great-grandmother. We called her "Lei" which we believed to mean "love" in Hawaiian. (A quick Internet search brought up garland rather than love, but to me it will always mean love.) One of her dearest held beliefs was that if we could keep Christmas for a day, why not all year? It was inspired by a sermon written years ago by Henry Van Dyke. She kept a wreath on her wall and a framed printing of the sermon to remind her daily.There were many reasons to love my great-grandmother but this was one of my favorites. It is something I try to live by yet I often fail. Good thing Christmas comes every year to remind me. I thought I would share the sermon, as well as a little love from a classy lady that we called Lei. No matter what religion you observe or what holiday you keep, I think the world would be a  better place if we could all live these words.

It is a good thing to observe Christmas day. The mere marking of times and seasons, when men agree to stop work and make merry together, is a wise and wholesome custom. It helps one to feel the supremacy of the common life over the individual life. It reminds a man to set his own little watch, now and then, by the great clock of humanity which runs on sun time.But there is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas.Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you, and to think what you owe the world; to put your rights in the background, and your duties in the middle distance, and your chances to do a little more than your duty in the foreground; to see that your fellow-men are just as real as you are, and try to look behind their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy; to own that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life; to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe, and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness--are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and the desires of little children; to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough; to bear in mind the things that other people have to bear on their hearts; to try to understand what those who live in the same house with you really want, without waiting for them to tell you; to trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you; to make a grave for your ugly thoughts, and a garden for your kindly feelings, with the gate open--are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.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.And if you keep it for a day, why not always?But you can never keep it alone. 29 Days...