Merry Christmas!

Several years ago, I tossed a generic package of Christmas cards onto the table in front of my husband and remarked, “I could make a better card than this!” To my surprise, he looked at me and said, “Then do it.” Never one to back down from a challenge, I enlisted the help of our then teenage son, who was a budding artist. Aaron and I collaborated – he drew a picture for the front of the card while I wrote a poem and greeting for the inside. Pleased with our creation we took the card to a printer then sent them out to family and friends. We had such a great response that we decided to make another card the next year. So began a family tradition.

For fifteen years Aaron and I turned out a new card each Christmas with him doing intricate pen and ink drawings for the front of the card to match the poem I wrote on the inside. Our friends and family shared the cards with others and our mailing list grew to over 100 as people asked to be placed on our custom Christmas card list. Though Aaron and I ended our collaboration a couple of years after he was married, I continue to write a new poem each Christmas, now sending it with a Christmas letter. This year will mark my 27th year to send a poem to friends and loved ones. And since I now count my readers among my special friends, I am including a Christmas poem in this month’s column. I wish each of you a very blessed Christmas and a healthy, happy New Year.

The First Christmas
Louise Tucker Jones
It was not just an ordinary star shining down that wonderful night
And the angels who heralded the birth made a most extraordinary sight.
Wisemen, laden with gifts, began their journey from afar
To worship Christ the King, being guided by the star.
But in a manger in Bethlehem lay the Christ child nestled in hay
While plain, everyday shepherds came to kneel, worship and pray.
And now I, like the shepherds of old, with nothing exceptional to see
Have become somebody special because of Christmas and Calvary.