HOLIDAY GREETINGS, LINKS, AND POEMS

[MajestyJo]

It is that holiday time again!

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WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR CHRISTMAS?

A poem sent to Dear Abby from a couple who have too much stuff.

So many of you asked us (since Yuletide's drawing near)
"What do you want for Christmas? What can we give you this year?
If we say, "We want nothing!" you buy something anyway,
So here's a list of what we'd like; believe now what we say:
Pajamas for a little child, food to feed the poor.
Blankets for a shelter, and we ask a little bit more--
Perform good deeds and let us know, or volunteer your time.
These last are worth a fortune, and they needn't cost a dime.
We have to many things now, vases, candles, tapes and clocks.
We have our fill of garments, ties, underwear and socks.
Candy is too fattening, crossword books we've more than 20.
We don't need trays or plates or cups, and knickknacks we have plenty.
We've no walls to hang more pictures; we have books we've not yet read;
So please take what you'd spend on us and help the poor instead!
Just send a Christmas card to us and tell us what you've done;
We'll open them on Christmas Eve, and read them one by one.
It won't cost as much for postage as a package sent would do,
You'll need no wrapping paper, ribbons, ink or glue.
And we'll thank God you listened to what we had to say,
So we could be the instruments to help someone this way.

-- Author Unknown

[MajestyJo]

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A Christmas Card

http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=ER13610552


For those of you with small children or grandchildren ....

Santa's Phone Number
1-800-972-6242

Different messages -- starts 12 days before Christmas

This was posted in 2006 not sure the number if valid.

Let It Snow

http://theroadlesstraveled12645.com/NewPages/LetItSnow.htm

[MajestyJo]

Christmas Jigsaw Puzzle

by Jacquie Lawson

http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=ER13610552


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No matter who I am
Or where I've been,
No matter what I've done
Or what I've seen;

No matter what I have
Or where I go,
No matter what I do
Or how I grow;

God will direct me,
God will correct me,
God will protect me,
God will accept me.

by John Stuart

[MajestyJo]

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Merry Christmas!
Original Poem by Sharon Steege
Used with permission

I don't know who they are
Saying I can't greet the crowd
The way that I want to
Can't say CHRISTMAS out loud.
I walk into a business place
See things that I rather not see
But dare I not say CHRISTMAS
And ask for a "Holiday" tree.
What happened to freedom of speech
And living in the land of the free
How can they take my CHRISTMAS money
But can't say MERRY CHRISTMAS to me.
Men and women have given their lives
So we could still go free
I wonder how they would feel
At saying "Holiday" tree.
COME ON AMERICA! LET'S WAKE UP!
Don't let our freedom escape
If they get by with doing this
What else will they take.
This is starting to get out of hand,
And I've begun to keep track
Well I've just about had enough
I'M TAKING CHRISTMAS BACK!
So MERRY CHRISTMAS AMERICA
I hope this gets all over the net
If we all stand united and take freedom back
"Twill be out best CHRISTMAS yet!

And while I'm at it...
Happy Birthday, Jesus!
Jesus is the reason for the season!

[MajestyJo]

Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Christmas Letter from Jesus
============================

This came in my email at the perfect time. I recently got into
a discussion online with some ladies about Christmas and what
it means... and stores and companies and how they do or do not
celebrate the season! Boy, this really opened my eyes. I don't
know if you will use it, but here it is anyway!

~Jodi, Hope Mills, NC~

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Dear Children,

It has come to my attention that many you are upset that folks
are taking My name out of the season. Maybe you've forgotten that I wasn't actually born during this time of the year and that it was some of your predecessors who decided to celebrate My birthday on what was actually a time of pagan festival. Although I do appreciate being remembered anytime.

How I personally feel about this celebration can probably be most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed with children of your own.

I don't care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My birth, just GET ALONG AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

Now, having said that let Me go on. If it bothers you that the
town in which you live doesn't allow a scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santa's and snowmen and put in a small Nativity scene on your own front lawn. If all My followers did that there wouldn't be any need for such a scene on the town square because there would be many of them all around town.

Stop worrying about the fact that people are calling the tree a holiday tree, instead of a Christmas tree. It was I who made all trees. You can remember Me anytime you see any tree. Decorate a grape vine if you wish: I actually spoke of that one in a teaching, explaining who I am in relation to you and what each of our tasks were.

If you have forgotten that one, look up John 15: 1 - 8.

If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of My birth here is my wish list. Choose something from it:

1. Instead of writing protest letters objecting to the way My
birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope to soldiers away from home. They are terribly afraid and lonely this time of year. I know, they tell Me all the time.

2. Visit someone in a nursing home. You don't have to know them personally. They just need to know that someone cares about them.

3. Instead of writing George complaining about the wording on the cards his staff sent out this year, why don't you write and tell him that you'll be praying for him and his family this year. Then follow up. It will be nice hearing from you again.

4. Instead of giving your children a lot of gifts you can't afford and they don't need, spend time with them. Tell them the story of My birth, and why I came to live with you down here. Hold them in your arms and remind them that I love them.

5. Pick someone that has hurt you in the past and forgive him
or her.

6. Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take
their own life this season because they feel so alone and
hopeless? Since you don't know who that person is, try giving
everyone you meet a warm smile; it could make the difference.

7. Instead of nit picking about what the retailer in your town
calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there.
Give them a warm smile and a kind word. Even if they aren't
allowed to wish you a "Merry Christmas" that doesn't keep you
from wishing them one. Then stop shopping there on Sunday. If the store didn't make so much money on that day they'd close and let their employees spend the day at home with their families.

8. If you really want to make a difference, support a
missionary - especially one who takes My love and Good News to
those who have never heard My name.

9. Here's a good one. There are individuals and whole families in your town who not only will have no "Christmas" tree, but neither will they have any presents to give or receive. If you don't know them, buy some food and a few gifts and give them to the Salvation Army or some other charity which believes in Me and they will make the delivery for you.

10. Finally, if you want to make a statement about your belief in and loyalty to Me, then behave like a Christian. Don't do things in secret that you wouldn't do in My presence. Let people know by your actions that you are one of mine.

Don't forget; I am God and can take care of Myself. Just love Me and do what I have told you to do. I'll take care of all the rest.

Check out the list above and get to work; time is short. I'll
help you, but the ball is now in your court. And do have a most blessed Christmas with all those whom you love and remember:

I LOVE YOU, JESUS

~Earthly Author Unknown~

[MajestyJo]

Can you figure out the real name for each of these 20 phrases ?
Answers Below.... no fair cheating. Santa is watching.


1. Bleached Yule
2. Castaneous-colored Seed Vesicated in a Conflagration
3. Singular Yearning for the Twin Anterior Incisors
4. Righteous Darkness
5. Arrival Time2400 hrs - WeatherCloudless
6. Loyal Followers Advance
7. Far Off in a Feeder
8. Array the Corridor
9. Bantam Male Percussionist
10. Monarchial Triad
11. Nocturnal Noiselessness
12. Jehovah Deactivate Blithe Chevaliers
13. Red Man En Route to Borough
14. Frozen Precipitation Commence
15. Proceed and Enlighten on the Pinnacle
16. The Quadruped with the Vermillion Probiscis
17. Query Regarding Identity of Descendant
18. Delight for this Planet
19. Give Attention to the Melodious Celestial Beings
20. The Dozen Festive 24 Hour Intervals


Scroll down for answers:





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Answers:
1. White Christmas
2. Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire
3. All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth
4. O Holy Night
5. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
6. O Come, All Ye Faithful
7. Away in a Manger
8. Deck the Hall
9. Little Drummer Boy
10. We Three Kings
11. Silent Night
12. God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen
13. Santa Claus is Coming to Town
14. Let it Snow
15. Go, Tell It on the Mountain
16. Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer
17. What Child is This?
18. Joy to the World
19. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
20. The Twelve Days of Christmas

[MajestyJo]

A Different Kind of Christmas Poem

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The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.
The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps Canadian, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."

"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Dieppe on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in that Korean Land',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
Something red and, white, ... a Canadian flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a trench with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.

To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

Received with thanks from my friend Liz

[MajestyJo]

Elvis_Christmas_On A Snowy Christmas Night

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Midnights prayers so softly whispered in
A Cathedral's candle light
Bring the message of the holidays
On a snowy Christmas night

Holly reeds and hidden mistletoe
Symbols of the seasons might
Joyful faces everywhere you go
On a snowy Christmas night

Give thanks for all you've been blessed with
And hold your loved ones tight
For you know the Lord's been good to you
On a snowy Christmas night

Mother Nature wears a bridal gown
For the world is dressed in white
There's a silent glow that fills the earth
On a snowy Christmas night

Give thanks for all you've been blessed with
And hold your loved ones tight
For you know the Lord's been good to you
On a snowy Christmas night


For you know the Lord's been good to you
On a snowy Christmas night
For you know the Lord's been good to you
On a snowy Christmas nighthttp://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQiDqwk2oXUD5CiJji7I83_SIwTzajUr T_rat3ylcC8BmfNIh0o5Q

[MajestyJo]

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It was Christmas time, and in the local paper there was a short article about an old woman in North Memphis, it was near the area where Elvis lived while he was growing up.

The man and woman were old, black and very poor. They lived in a two-room house with only a tattered curtain dividing the rooms, in the poorest part of Memphis. The old woman had been confined to a wheelchair all her life. She had no legs and her old wheelchair had become worse from age, she wasn't able to use it anymore and left her unable to move around her home.

The story was written by a charitable woman who knew of the old lady's circumstances and decided to do what she could, and try to raise enough money to buy the old lady a new wheelchair. When Elvis read the article he turned to Marty Lacker and said, "Moon, take care of it for me. Get her a new chair."

Marty made a call to the phone number which was with the article, and asked the woman who answered the call, if she was still looking for a wheelchair for the crippled woman?

She said, "We are taking donations and will very much appreciate anything you can do." Marty then asked how much had already been raised; so far the donations received totaled a little over eighty dollars. Marty explained to the lady, he is acting on behalf of someone who would like to remain anonymous but would like to buy the old woman a new wheelchair.

The lady on the phone said, "Oh, you want to donate some money." Marty replied, "No, we want to buy a new chair for her. You take the money that has been raised and give to her. We'll get the wheelchair. "The lady seemed to be unsure about the caller, until Marty asked for the old woman's address and reassuring her that they would get the old woman her chair, she then seemed satisfied this call was genuine.

She said to Marty, "You are very kind," then she offered to pick up the wheelchair and send the bill on to them, he said, no, ma'am. "We will pick the chair up and personally deliver it, there is somebody who wants to do this for the old lady." "God will surely bless you and your friend." She replied.

After getting the elderly woman's address Marty made another call to a hospital supply company in Memphis, where Marty and one of the other guys found a really nice electric, automatic wheelchair and bought it, put it in the trunk of the car and went back to Graceland to show Elvis the chair before they delivered it to the old woman.

When they got to Graceland, Elvis and Priscilla were dressed to go out. Marty asked Elvis if he wanted to see the wheelchair before taking to the woman, Elvis answered "Priscilla and I are both going with you."

Elvis, Priscilla and Marty got into one car and two of the guys followed in a second car, using the second car was normal procedure for security, or in case anything happened to the car Elvis was traveling in. They drove to one of the poorest neighborhoods in Memphis. It was the pits, and they all wondered how people were living like that and yet, most of the guys had begun their lives in little better conditions.

Marty went to the door making sure they were at the right address; an old man let him in. It was a shock to see what these people lived in, he noticed the newspapers, which were there to try and stop the wind from coming in the windows, there was an old wood stove in the middle of the floor.

It was the poorest place Marty had ever seen, and the shocking fact was this place was in the city. It was a run down shack, not a house.

Marty explained to the old man three or four times why he was in the neighborhood, even then it's not certain the old man understood. Then Marty saw the old woman sitting on a wooden chair in the other room, he then told the man he would be right back.

While outside, he told Elvis the old lady was in the house and got the other guys to put the wheelchair together. Elvis carried the chair into the house, with Priscilla, Marty and the others following.

Tears welled in everyone's eyes at the sight of these dear old people during such poverty. Elvis went to the lady and said, "Hello, I came to give you this chair as a gift for Christmas".

The dear old woman didn't understand why this white man was in her home to giving her a new wheelchair. She kept looking at the chair and Elvis while he explained and showed her how it should be operated.

Suddenly she seemed to understand this wheelchair is truly a gift to her, then she tried her hardest to get off the wooden chair to her new chair wheelchair, but she struggled and was unable to do so. Elvis then gently picked her up and carefully placed her in her new chair.

As her tears began flowing from her old eyes she cried, "Praise God! God bless you!"

The moment was filled with genuine emotions, with Elvis on one side and Priscilla on the other, sharing this "happy sadness" moment with the old lady.

Even the tough members of the Memphis Mafia couldn't control the powerful emotions floating in the room; each of the guys came forward and put their arms around the old lady and clasped the old man's weak hand.

The general feeling that surfaced from this special visit was the love felt for the elderly couple, Priscilla and all that were present, but most of all they truly loved Elvis and the sincerity with which he gave his true gift, himself.

Before leaving the couple, Elvis turned to Marty and said, "Look at the way they're living," each person involved in the experience felt thankful for what they had.

Elvis then asked Marty to give him a couple of hundred dollars; Elvis then placed two one-hundred-dollar notes in the old woman's hand wishing her a Merry Christmas.

Elvis gently kissed her, then turned and walked out.

From my site Santa's Keeper

[MajestyJo]

"Oh Christmas Tree"
From The Perspective Of The Cat

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Lyrics by Sandy Riccardi
Tune traditional 16th century German


Oh Christmas Tree
Oh Christmas Tree
How nice my owners thought of me

Oh Christmas Tree
Oh Christmas Tree
Your ornaments are history

They dangle bright to banish gloom
I'll smack them clear across the room

Oh Christmas Tree
Oh Christmas Tree
You're better than a catnip spree

Oh Christmas Tree
Oh Christmas Tree
You're turning slightly brown I see

Oh Christmas Tree
Oh Christmas Tree
Your water has been drunk by me

Your skirt has lovely snowy flocks
I'll use them for my litter box

Oh Christmas Tree
Oh Christmas Tree
And then I'll blame the dog, you see.

[MajestyJo]

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GET INTO THE SWING OF THINGS! HAVE YOU GOT THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT?

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HAVE YOU JOINED IN THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS AND DECORATED YOUR TREE YET?

HAVE A GREAT HOLIDAY!

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FROM MY HOME TO YOURS!

[MajestyJo]

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From: "From Loneliness to Solitude"

There are two sides of man’s being alone. In our language, “loneliness” expresses the pain of being alone. “Solitude” expresses the glory of being alone.

What happens to us in AA that makes it possible for us, not only to endure, but to enjoy moments of solitude? What changes our loneliness to solitude?

The love and understanding we find in AA are a protective curtain between ourselves and the aching aloneness of our drinking days. The first few weeks, some of us spend most
of our time in an AA club talking with others. Then it becomes evident that we must go to work and somehow meet the demands and responsibilities of our daily lives. We are
afraid. Will the old loneliness hit us again when we are out of the actual presence of other AA members?

Sooner or later, by practicing the principles of the Twelve Steps, we find in ourselves a very precious thing, something inside that we can be comfortable with regardless of whether
we are at home by ourselves or anywhere else that life takes us.

AA members are not emotional cripples who need someone to hold their hands every moment of the day and night to prevent their falling. We grow up with the help of God, as we
understand Him, and the fellowship of the group, and by applying the Twelve Steps to our lives.

Came to Believe…, page 109

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If you can't be with family, reach out to others who are alone. One of the best Christmas days I had was leaving family to go to my home group, and we had five people at our meeting, two who were newcomers.

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[MajestyJo]

Uptight before Christmas, all through these rooms
alcoholics were stricken with holiday gloom.

They prayed, "Santa, please make us happy, joyous & free,
bring us candy and presents and serenity."

Greed filled their minds and envy their hearts
and someone said, "It's time for the meeting to start!"

"Does anyone have a topic tonight?"
Every face in the place turned wintery white!

They lost all self-seeking, self-pity and self-will
when down through the chimney came the ghost of St. Bill!

He chuckled and said as he sat himself down
"Call the White House and tell 'em there's a new Dubya in town."

Then he looked through a big book and said with a tear,
"Wow! No one rewrote this after all these years!"

Clean house, help your neighbor, be loving and kind,
and don't take the first drink one day at a time."

"How could a message as simple as this
be realized, analyzed and intellectually dismissed?"

There lies the reason this ghost has arrived:
to re-give a gift that has saved all your lives!

Then he set up a big screen and a DVD
so every lost soul in the meeting could see.

He played a movie of drunks at their best and their worst,
what is and what was, when blessed and when cursed.

There were scenes of a housewife passed out at a bar,
a respectable businessman wrecking his car,

A fight in a kitchen, a fight in bed,
a fight at a reception between newlyweds.

An empty bottle, a desperate man
alone in a motel with a gun in his hands.

He puts down the gun and picks up the phone
and whimpers and blubbers, "Honey, let me come home."

She hangs up as she tells him, "Don't call here anymore."
He reaches for the phone book and falls to the floor.

Somehow that phone book seems to capture his gaze:
it's open to a number under the A's.

Then all of the people in the movie converged
on the poor side of town in the basement of a church.

Driven together in a willing herd
to hear of hope and deliver the word.

The ghost of Bill W. turned off the TV
and said, "The first word of the first step is 'we'.

I suggest you start there and see where you go.
Be thorough and fearless, and please-take it slow!

Let faith set the tone, let love make the mood
'and as for a topic...how about gratitude?'

Just don't drink, go to meetings and, yes, you should pray
and be glad you're alive and sober today.

Be a good woman, be a good man
and be of service whenever you can.

Be a good mother, be a good dad
and try to be good to your kids when they're bad.

Be a good husband, or lover, or wife...
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good life.

Hugs and a Ho, Ho, Ho! to you and yours!

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[MajestyJo]

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http://www.raileurope.com/blog/10339-happy-holidays-from-rail-europe

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Merry Christmas

from my house to your house.

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[MajestyJo]

2013 Contract

-----
After serious & cautious consideration.....your contract of friendship has been renewed for the New Year 2013!

It was a very hard decision to make. So try not to screw it up!!!

My Wish for You in 2013


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May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts. May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet of $100 bills. May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips! May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires and may happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy. May the problems you had forget your home address! In simple words ............

May 2013 be the best year of your life!!!

http://www.inspiringthots.net/movie/soldier-xmas.php

[MajestyJo]

I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas

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I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
Don't want a doll, no dinky Tinker Toy
I want a hippopotamus to play with and enjoy

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
I don't think Santa Claus will mind, do you?
He won't have to use our dirty chimney flue
Just bring him through the front door, that's the easy thing to do

I can see me now on Christmas morning, creeping down the stairs
Oh what joy and what surprise when I open up my eyes
to see a hippo hero standing there

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles, no rhinoceroses
I only like hippopotamuses
And hippopotamuses like me too

Mom says the hippo would eat me up, but then
Teacher says a hippo is a vegeterian

There's lots of room for him in our two-car garage
I'd feed him there and wash him there and give him his massage
I can see me now on Christmas morning, creeping down the stairs
Oh what joy and what surprise when I open up my eyes
to see a hippo hero standing there

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles or rhinoceroseses
I only like hippopotamuseses
And hippopotamuses like me too!

[MajestyJo]

HOLIDAY CHEER!

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https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTLb_0LFq4rv2zH3dKDvr3xn-4aWNWseRAmwKWg4o1F6HeaYZ1Uow

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRSxYpCVe9P7M5SAeAxHmDWICfr0VS8V CaNKjyWn21rqQEWlApj

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[MajestyJo]

This is cool. Being from Canada, I love a white Christmas.

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQbCLqOGPbdJEEfhE8sJzqaammMu8Gb-QLCFB3zZNWJJnc4VFiS

Here is a look at down under

http://www.kenduncan.com/gfc_ausxmas.php

[MajestyJo]

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRBtn3akhw1iMYF7wXQRMsP-r3Am9LD51lCpBUdxXdRIPpyxN-V

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR

http://www.glenn.tapley.us/MC.swf

http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=ER13610552

http://www.jacquielawson.com/preview.asp?cont=1&hdn=0&pv=3150446

http://www.ashland.edu/ecard/index.php?ecardYear=2004adm

http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=1050298429917

http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=XE13117730

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Hope your Christmas is a good one! Filled with love, laughter and joy in the fellowship of friends and family. If you are alone, reach out to another, who is also alone. Keep yourself safe.

Wishing everyone a safe and sober holiday.

[MajestyJo]

Holiday greetings to all. Have a safe, clean and sober holiday. It is my hope to post special Christmas poems, greetings and ways to keep yourself safe over the holidays.

Holidays can be a time of fear for many. For me it was important to stay in today. To remember it was just another 24 hour day and to surround myself with safe people (not necessarily family) and have a support group of people I could call. In early recovery, I went to the Area Social Club where they were open 24 hours and had fellowship, food, and meetings.

[MajestyJo]

http://upchucky.com/holiday/disco-santa.html

http://www.busybus.co.uk/design/xmas_santa.swf

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/christmas-design-resources-santa-claus/


Twas the night before x mas ,
we were all in the club,
providing a meeting
instead of a pub.

the ashtrays were clean
and the coffee was made.

the basic texts were out,
and we had all prayed..

when out in the lot,
there arose such a clatter,
we jumped from the table
to see what was a matter.

the chair with his N/A book
and i with my smokes,
headed outside and
found these two blokes.

they came inside,
and they sat a a table,
and said that they'd chair,
as soon as they're able.

to start with, they said,
its more than not using
or drinking.
it's doing your best to
fix your wrong thinking.

'let go and let GOD'
and those slogans we used
help keep the newcomer from
getting too confused.

step one is a start,
they said we should know
and after step two ,
we'll be all aglow.

we make a decision when we get step three;
step four is real tough, we all could agree,
step five is the one where we let it all out,
step six and seven ,
we;re left with no doubt,

we get step eight, and we make our long list
and then with step nine , we have to persist.

when you're on step nine, our promises ring true.
we didn't just get that, out of the blue.

after that, it's on with the rest
that we must do each day,to be our best.
they put on their coats and got ready to leave
a pretty good end, for this
Christmas eve...

as to his name , we only could guess ok?
but i'm pretty darn sure it was jimmy k.
the two men hopped in a red'35 ford,
as they pulled out, one of them roared;

we leave this message , for you , our brothers
and sisters.

TRUST GOD, CLEAN HOUSE, BE OF SERVICE TO OTHERS..
FOR ALL OF THE PEOPLE WE WANT TO SAY..

HAVE A NICE HOLIDAY,
DON'T DRINK OR USE.... JUST FOR TODAY...

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

AS THE DROVE AWAY.............

Received from a recovery friend

[MajestyJo]

''THIS WAS A GOOD CHRISTMAS
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We will all look back on Christmas of the past ones, which were at all like this one..
as we thank GOD now..

we also add the thanking for sobriety and our new found life..

we also think , about how our lives have changed.
and how glad we are that we came to recovery...

so remember GOD, let us live...
through all the hazards of our drinking and using careers..

and when we were close to death,

we found a new way....

so today we must believe ;;

we lived to be sober , clean and free..

now GOD wants us to help others and do his great work..


reach out to the new comer or someone in need....

the new year gives us a lot....so this year give a little...

because we got a lot.....

Received from a recovery friend

The holidays are about getting together with friends. In recovery, we come from all walks of life and yet we have a common denominator. We want to stay clean and sober. No one is less than or better than, we are all equal, through the Grace of God we share, one addict with another, no matter what our drug of choice has been. The substance is but a symptom of our disease. When we identify instead of comparing, we can come together in unity and enjoy the Fellowship of the Spirit.

http://www.animated-gifs.eu/christmas-wreaths/0066.gif

Merry Christmas
Happy Hanukkah
Happy New Year

Happy Holidays
You’ve Got Mail

Click This To Read Your Mail

http://www.oldjoeblack.0nyx.com/winter.htm

It is important to keep safe over the holiday. For me I had to have an alternative plan. If I felt someplace wasn't safe for me to be, I would place my sobriety first, even before my family.

Happy Holidays to you and yours.

[MajestyJo]

Dedicated To All Military Troops Everywhere

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THE SANDS OF CHRISTMAS

I had no Christmas spirit
when I breathed a weary sigh,
And looked across the table
where the bills were piled too high.

The laundry wasn't finished
and the car I had to fix,
My stocks were down another point,
the Chargers lost by six.

And so with only minutes
till my son got home from school
I gave up on the drudgery
and grabbed a wooden stool.

The burdens that I carried
were about all I could take,
And so I flipped the TV on
to catch a little break.

I came upon a desert scene
in shades of tan and rust,
No snowflakes hung upon the wind,
just clouds of swirling dust.

And where the reindeer should have stood
before a laden sleigh,
Eight Humvees ran a column
right behind an M1A.

A group of boys walked past the tank,
not one was past his teens
Their eyes were hard as polished flint,
their faces drawn and lean.

They walked the street in armor
with their rifles shouldered tight,
Their dearest wish for Christmas,
just to have a silent night.

Other soldiers gathered,
hunkered down against the wind,
To share a scrap of mail
and dreams of going home again.

There wasn't much at all
to put their lonely hearts at ease,
They had no Christmas turkey,
just a pack of MREs.

They didn't have a garland
or a stocking I could see,
They didn't need an ornament -
they lacked a Christmas tree.

They didn't have a present
even though it was tradition,
The only boxes I could see
were labeled "ammunition. "

I felt a little tug
and found my son now by my side,
He asked me what it was I feared,
and why it was I cried.

I swept him up into my arms
and held him oh so near
And kissed him on the forehead
as I whispered in his ear.

"There's nothing wrong, my little son,
for safe we sleep tonight
Our heroes stand on foreign land
to give us all the right.

To worry on the things in life
that mean nothing at all,
Instead of wondering if we
will be the next to fall."

He looked at me as children do
and said, "it's always right,
To thank the ones who help us
and perhaps that we should write."

And so we pushed aside the bills
and sat to draft a note,
To thank the many far from home,
and this is what we wrote:


"God bless you all and keep you safe,
and speed your way back home.
Remember that we love you so,
and that you're not alone.

The gift you give you share with all,
a present every day,
You give the gift of liberty
and that we can't repay."
~ Michael Marks ~


Merry Christmas and a safe New Year
to all troops so far from home!
May God bless and keep you safe.

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Christmas Greetings!

http://ak.imgag.com/imgag/product/previe....132942/graphic1

Sharing the blessings you receive from others.

[MajestyJo]

http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss330/EliteForumModerator/hanukkah_happy-hanukkah_20.jpg

HAVE FUN, ENJOY YOUR DAY CLEAN AND SOBER!

[MajestyJo]

http://www.animated-gifs.eu/christmas-poinsettia/0012.gif

http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=2007134554829&source=jl999


http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=GJ13485367

http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=XE13117730


http://worriersanonymous.org/Share/Christmas/Holynite.htm


http://ak.imgag.com/imgag/product/preview/flash/bws8Shell_fps24.swf?ihost=http://ak.imgag.com/imgag&brandldrPath=/product/full/el/&cardNum=/product/full/ap/3166187/graphic1


A Christmas Story

'Twas the night before Christmas--Old Santa was pissed.
He cussed out the elves and threw down his list.
Miserable little brats, ungrateful little jerks.
I have a good mind to scrap the whole works!

I've busted I disagree for d**n near a year,
Instead of "Thanks Santa"--what do I hear?
The old lady pregnant doges cause I work late at night.
The elves want more money--The reindeer all fight.

Rudolph got drunk and goosed all the maids.
Donner is pregnant and Vixen has AIDS.
And just when I thought that things would get better
Those not a very nice persons from the IRS sent me a letter,
They say I owe taxes--if that ain't d**n funny
Who the hell ever sent Santa Claus any money?

And the kids these days--they all are the pits
They want the impossible--Those mean little nutss
I spent a whole year making wagons and sleds
Assembling dolls...Their arms, legs and heads
I made a ton of yo yo's--No request for them,
They want computers and robots...they think - I'm IBM!

Flying through the air...dodging the trees
Falling down chimneys and skinning my knees
I'm quitting this job there's just no enjoyment
I'll sit on my fat ass and draw unemployment.

There's no Christmas this year now you know the reason,
I found me a blonde. I'm going SOUTH for the season

[MajestyJo]

Santa's Prayer on Christmas Eve

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT-LkEdTdR4xNwHBpFrheBuDsmTgF42r-h3aX39Yh3hp-sVlVQQ

The sleigh was all packed, the reindeer were fed,
But Santa still knelt by the side of the bed.
"Dear Father," he prayed "Be with me tonight.
There's much work to do and my schedule is tight.
I must jump in my sleigh and streak through the sky,
Knowing full well that a reindeer can't fly.
I will visit each household before the first light;
I'll cover the world and all in one night.
With sleigh bells a-ringing, I'll land on each roof,
Amid the soft clatter of each little hoof.
To get in the house is the difficult part,
So I'll slide down the chimney of each child's heart.
My sack will hold toys to grant all their wishes.
The supply will be endless like the loaves and the fishes.
I will fill all the stockings and not leave a track.
I'll eat every cookie that is left for my snack.
I can do all these things Lord, only through You,
I just need your blessing, then it's easy to do.
All this is to honor the birth of the One,
That was sent to redeem us, Your most Holy Son.
So to all of my friends, least Your glory I rob,
Please Lord, remind them who gave me this job."

- - Warren D. Jennings

[MajestyJo]

A Christmas Prayer

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h105/Hsmiley/christmas/Merry20Christmas.jpg

Loving Father,
Help us remember the birth of Jesus,
that we may share in the song of the angels,
the gladness of the shepherds,
and worship of the wise men.

Close the door of hate and open the door of love
all over the world.
Let kindness come with every gift and good
desires with every greeting.
Deliver us from evil by the blessing which
Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with
clear hearts.

May the Christmas morning make us happy
to be thy children, and Christmas evening bring
us to our beds with grateful thoughts,
forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus' sake.

Amen....

by Robert Louis Stevenson

[MajestyJo]

AA Christmas Story

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Uptight Before Christmas
(To the rhyme of Twas the Night Before Christmas)

Uptight before Christmas, all through these rooms alcoholics were stricken with holiday gloom.

They prayed, "Santa, please make us happy, joyous & free, bring us candy and presents and serenity."

Greed filled their minds and envy their hearts and someone said, "It's time for the meeting to start!"

"Does anyone have a topic for discussion tonight?" Every face in the place turned wintery white!

They lost all self-seeking, self-pity and self-will when down through the chimney came the ghost of St. Bill!

He chuckled and said as he sat himself down "Call the White House and tell 'em there's a new Dubya in town."

Then he looked through a big book and said with a tear, "Wow! No one rewrote this after all these years! "

Clean house, help your neighbor, be loving and kind, and don't take the first drink one day at a time."

"How could a message as simple as this be realized, analyzed and intellectually dismissed?"

There lies the reason this ghost has arrived: to re-give a gift that has saved all your lives!

Then he set up a big screen and a DVD so every lost soul in the meeting could see.

He played a movie of drunks at their best and their worst, what is and what was when blessed and cursed.

There were scenes of a housewife passed out at a bar, a respectable businessman wrecking his car,

a fight in a kitchen, a fight in bed, a fight at a reception between newlyweds.

An empty bottle, a desperate man alone in a motel with a gun in his hands.

He puts down the gun and picks up the phone and whimpers and blubbers, "Honey, let me come home."

She hangs up as she tells him, "Don't call here anymore." He reaches for the phone book and falls to the floor.

Somehow that phone book seems to capture his gaze: it's open to a number under the A's.

Then all of the people in the movie converged on the poor side of town in the basement of a church.

Driven together in a willing herd to hear of hope and deliver the word.

The ghost of Bill W. turned off the TV and said, "The first word of the first step is 'we'.

I suggest you start there and see where you go. Be thorough and fearless, and please-take it slow!

Let faith set the tone, let love make the mood 'and as for a topic... how about gratitude?'

Just don't drink, go to meetings and pray and be glad you're alive and sober today.

Be a good woman, be a good man and be of service whenever you can.

Be a good mother, be a good dad and try to be good to your kids when they're bad.

Be a good husband, be a good wife....... Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good life!"

Received with thanks from my friend Brenda

[MajestyJo]

Tonight I was talking to my sponsor. Her husband is just back from Scotland where his sister died as a result of her disease.

We so often think, we can come back. Sometimes they don't make it, and I am so glad for the message they carry to me. It isn't better out there and my disease is progressive.

It is a sad time of the year to lose someone. My father died on December 21 and our children were all young, they just didn't understand.

My son is still in active addiction, so my prayers go out to all those who are using and the family and friend of those who are using.

http://www.animated-gifs.eu/christmas-merry/0053.gif

[MajestyJo]

http://www.animated-gifs.eu/mammals-dogs-christmas/0023.gif

http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=1696747477663&source=jl999

Finally the elevator doors opened and there was already a crowd in the car. She pushed her way into the car and dragged her two kids in with her and all the bags of stuff. When the doors closed she couldn't take it anymore and stated, "Whoever started this whole Christmas thing should be found, strung up and shot."

From the back of the car everyone heard a quiet, calm voice respond, "Don't worry. We already crucified him."

For the rest of the trip down the elevator it was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. Don't forget this year to keep the One who started this whole Christmas thing in your every thought, deed, purchase, and word. If we all did it, just think of how different this whole world would be.

Unknown shared by a friend

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTlO4ju-_sJDGQ_4SY2j_L24u9gllAtZLoz0uV_DO4jLLIa5UAHCg

[MajestyJo]

When I look at nature, I am always full of wonder at the beauty and power of my God. As it is written in the hymn, "How Big is God, How Big His Vast Domain!"

http://ca.video.search.yahoo.com/sea...-8&n=21&tnr=20

My favourite song, `Because He Lives`I have a today and a promise of a tomorrow.

When you think of the snowflake, not one is the same, all are different, the same goes for each of us. We are on this journey for the same reason, but no one else has walked in our shoes, and we are all individuals, yet we walk and work together for our sobriety. It is a WE program. Our God sees us as an individual and gives us each the care we need.

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[MajestyJo]

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Give thanks for the new birth, it was the beginning of things to come. That is what happens when we have change in our life. Letting go of the old to make room for the new. Each day is a new beginning and each day brings us the gift of Sobriety if we choose it.

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May we all rejoice in His Goodness, Gifts, and Grace.

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MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

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[MajestyJo]

The Reason for the Season!

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http://www.41051.com/xmaslyrics/awaymanger.html

[MajestyJo]

Hope this works for you. A Christmas card I got from a long time friend.

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