DINAH MARIA MULOCK God rest ye, merry gentlemen; let nothing you dismay, For Jesus Christ, our Saviour, was born on Christmas-day. The dawn rose red o'er Bethlehem, the stars shone...
MARGARET DELAND Hushed are the pigeons cooing low On dusty rafters of the loft; And mild-eyed oxen, breathing soft, Sleep on the fragrant hay below. Dim shadows in the corner hide;...
CLEMENT C. MOORE 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In ho...
LYDIA A.C. WARD Why do bells for Christmas ring? Why do little children sing? Once a lovely, shining star, Seen by shepherds from afar, Gently moved until its light Made a manger-c...
CHARLES DICKENS You might have thought a goose the rarest of all birds; a feathered phenomenon, to which a black swan was a matter of course; and in truth, it was something like it...
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Blow, blow thou winter wind-- Thou art not so unkind As man's ingratitude! Thy tooth is not so keen, Because thou art not seen, Although thy breath be rude. Hei...
ALFRED TENNYSON The time draws near the birth of Christ; The moon is hid--the night is still; The Christmas bells from hill to hill Answer each other in the mist. Four voices of fo...
ALICE MORSE EARLE [From Customs and Fashions in Old New England.] The first century of colonial life saw few set times and days for pleasure. The holy days of the English Church we...
Romans, xiv, 6: _He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord,_ HENRY VAN DYKE [From The Spirit of Christmas.] It is a good thing to observe Christmas day. The mere markin...
JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS Sleep, baby, sleep! The Mother sings: Heaven's angels kneel and fold their wings. Sleep, baby, sleep! With swathes of scented hay Thy bed By Mary's hand at e...
Listen, lordings, unto me, a tale I will you tell; Which, as on this night of glee, in David's town befell. Joseph came from Nazareth with Mary, that sweet maid; Weary were they ni...
JOHN MILTON It was the winter wild, While the heaven-born child All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies; Nature, in awe of him, Had doffed her gaudy trim, With her great Master so...
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY Christmas is here; Winds whistle shrill, Icy and chill, Little care we; Little we fear Weather without, Sheltered about The Mahogany-Tree. Once on the b...
WILLIAM MORRIS Outlanders, whence come ye last? _The snow in the street and the wind on the door._ Through what green seas and great have ye past? _Minstrels and maids, stand forth...
KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN When the Child of Nazareth was born, the sun, according to the Bosnian legend, leaped in the heavens, and the stars around it danced. A peace came over mountain...
ANNE P.L. FIELD When the stars of morning sang Long ago, Sweet the air with music rang Through the snow, There beside the mother mild Slept the blessed Christmas child,-- Slumber h...
PHILLIPS BROOKS O little town of Bethlehem, How still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by; Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting Li...
(A Selection from Dreamthorp) ALEXANDER SMITH Sitting here, I incontinently find myself holding a levee of departed Christmas nights. Silently, and without special call, into my st...
FROM THE GERMAN O Fir-tree green! O Fir-tree green! Your leaves are constant ever, Not only in the summer time, But through the winter's snow and rime You're fresh and green foreve...
WALTER SCOTT On Christmas-eve the bells were rung; The damsel donned her kirtle sheen; The hall was dressed with holly green; Forth to the wood did merry men go, To gather in the m...
ANNE P.L. FIELD The Christmas fires brightly gleam And dance among the holly boughs, The Christmas pudding's spicy steam With fragrance fills the house, While merry grows each frie...
ANONYMOUS To Bethlem did they go, the shepherds three; To Bethlem did they go to see whe'r it were so or no, Whether Christ were born or no To set men free. Masters, in this hall,...
EDMUND H. SEARS It came upon the midnight clear, That glorious song of old, From angels bending near the earth To touch their harps of gold, Peace on the earth, good-will to men, F...
ANON The Second Charles of England Rode forth one Christmas tide, To hunt a gallant stag of ten, Of Chingford woods the pride. The winds blew keen, the snow fell fast, And made for...
CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI In the bleak mid-winter Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, Snow on snow, In the bleak mid-win...
Of garnered rhyme, from hidden stores of olden time that since the language did begin, have welcomed merry Christmas in, and made the winter nights so long, fleet by on wings of wi...
ELIZA COOK The holly! the holly! oh, twine it with bay-- Come give the holly a song; For it helps to drive stern winter away, With his garment so sombre and long; It peeps through...
REGINALD HEBER Brightest and best of the Sons of the morning! Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid! Star of the East, the horizon adorning, Guide where our Infant Redeemer is...
WASHINGTON IRVING But is old, old, good old Christmas gone? Nothing but the hair on his good, gray, old head and beard left? Well, I will have that, seeing I cannot have more of hi...
FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL O Christmas, merry Christmas! Is it really come again, With its memories and greetings, With its joy and with its pain? There's a minor in the carol, And a...