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through it. In like manner too many gifts a sheer downpour of gifts on 

 a single occasion stem the consciousness of the recipient and make him 

 temporarily incapable of appreciating any gifts at all. A surfeit of gifts 

 is a complete perversion of the purpose of giving, which is to express 

 remembrance and regard and give pleasure to the one who receives. 



Christmas Day really brings us, year by year, an assurance that God 

 loves the world and cares for each of us, and visits us, and having Himself 

 entered into the experiences of our human life from the beginning knows 

 us, understands us, and is blessedly able to make sympathetic allowance 

 for us. And, having its dawn and brightness in the face of a little Child, 

 it consecrates our natural love of children, and sends us here and there on 

 pleasant errands whose intention is to make the children happy. That is 

 the keynote of the day; that is the birthday of a child a child festival. 



And since Christmas is a child festival, plainly it should be observed 

 with such rites as will make children happy. It is well that the house 

 should be hung with green festoons and wreaths in the window, so that it 

 shall shine like Christmas and look like Christmas, and shout a Merry 

 Christmas to all passersby. It is right that there should be a tree with 

 its tops pointing to Heaven; the source of all our blessings, with its 

 branches stretched out in all directions of the compass, a symbol of the 

 fraternity and hospitality of this holy season. 



It is right that stockings shall hang, a bulging row, beside the fire-place 

 or outside the bedroom doors, for the tree and the stockings belong to the 

 Christmas tradition, and have come down through many centuries, a heri- 

 tage of delight which we in turn are to cherish and transmit. All mystic 

 observances which connect us with the friendly saints, with knights and 

 minstrels, with immemorial songs and stories, and which apart from all 

 antiquity, are good for their own sake. It is well and right too, that there 

 should be gifts for the children, just as the wise men travelled over the 

 long roads from the mysterious East, and brought gifts to the Christ child. 

 But let the gifts be few, for the plain effect of a great lot of gifts is only to 

 confuse the children. Their arms are filled with twenty different toys and 

 games, and their minds are filled with a proportionate perplexity which 

 presently makes its way to their nerves. The result is that nothing is 

 fairly appreciated; half of the gifts are broken before sundown and the 

 children go to bed with frowns and tears. A smaller number of gifts and 

 more love and care in their selection would aid also in keeping the children, 

 and us elders as well, in truer accord with the real Christmas spirit, for the 

 heart of Christmas happiness is kindliness and consideration and concern 

 for others. The thoughtful purchaser, he or she, who brings few gifts, but 

 buys them with love and care, lifts a lot of the heavy burden which falls 

 at this time on the shoulders of the shop girls. So to begin early and buy 

 less and with greater care is a way to extend the Christmas blessings of 

 good-will and peace. A simple Christmas would give us more time to think 

 of others who are saddened and less fortunate and who may need us. What 

 greater blessings would come with the day if we thought a little more of 

 others? We would be glad in the true spirit of the life that was given to 

 the world on that day; a life of simplicity in itself and of love and con- 

 sideration for others. 



o 



"Christmastide it is warm and sweet 

 A whole world's heart at a baby's feet." 



Richard Burton. 



