Christmas Joys!

Mary of Christmas

I know not how, dear Lady love,

To offer you my praise,

I cannot fashion as I wish

The words that I world raise.

You stand afar, celestial Queen,

The stars are in your crown,

They spangle at each gesture's path

And dust upon your gown.

Perhaps I might recall the night

You knelt beside the crib,

The night when doors and casements shut

And left a mountain's rib,

Alone, exposed, to hoard you close

Beside the new-born Child

And seek in Joseph's kindly eyes

For something worldly-mild.

To counteract such mundane chill

I hereby set my heart,

Dim mirror of an Infant's warmth,

Its flaming but a part,

A small, sad part of Endless Love

That came on Christmas day

To show a mother wonder-bright

To guide us on our way.

--Anonymous

The paper whites in the above photo we found blooming on Christmas morning!  I'd picked them up less than a month before Christmas, not expecting them to sprout and bloom in time for the big day...  It usually takes longer.  Such a sweet and wonderful little surprise for us! And as there are no accidents in the universe, we're grateful for them as a gift -- not to us but to the dear Mother of the Infant Jesus.