Yellowed Christmas Memories #poetry #photography #dpchallenge

 

 

Brown are the edges

where so many fingers

over years have creased

 the words always warm

Yellow still the Christmas star

that brilliantly shines

in my child’s mind

over silent hill

Golden are the memories

songs long ago sung

visits to the City of Paris

beautiful ornaments they hung

The prompt this week for Word Press Photo Challenge is Yellow.

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Beneath the Tree #4 #gifts #poor #poetry

This year I get to play Santa

gifts come in and up the stairs

our small organization has year round elves

A craft store donates wrapping paper

somehow the day before Christmas

several families still had a need

and presents there were extra

wrapping needed with some speed

this part is the fun part

gathering with my best friends

they had plenty of their own

“who needs to go to bed?”

and so we wrapped til dawn’s light

like Santa and his elves

now we do the deliveries

little thinking of ourselves

to hear the squeals of children

presents, foods brings them delight

I catch the look in adult eyes

their holiday now is bright

I tuck away the memories

a smile behind each one

and hug the spirit of Christmas

“God Bless us Everyone”

Christmas Carol book cover

 

Charles Dickens apparently saw the disparity between the poor and the rich.  “A Christmas Carol” speaks to the spirit of giving. There is much joy in seeing the joy in a child’s eye when they see goodness and kindness wrapped in a bow.

I guess I’m on a 12 days of Christmas role writing about the stuff that you’ll rarely see staged on the front page of the Newspaper. I’ve been in the “poor recipient” category and I’ve been the person who gets to bring the gifts to the family in “need.” Each of these “stories” are true with the hope that this Spirit of Christmas that Dickens talked about will prevail!

Holiday Cheer #scrooge #postaday #Christmas

Portrait of Scrooge by Everett Shinn

 

There I was out in the cold (again.)

Do the people who ask for holiday donations for the poor really know what it is like for us?

Do they do it so they can feel better when they sit down to a big fat goose?

I can’t wish them ill really I can’t. I just wish my belly could for one day a year be filled with something that didn’t come out of a can.

I would love to have one gift (even if it was fruitcake) that was wrapped with a red ribbon that I could spend a half hour opening.

I’m not that much different than you. Well yes my face is dirty and I’m missing a tooth (or two), but we all want similar things (warm beds, food for the kids, and a loving smile to say goodnight to.)

That’s not what you look forward to?

Ah yes you are part of the Scrooge Tide. It never changes just the amount that jangles in the pocket. During Ebenezer’s time, it was probably a jumble of coins worth fifty dollars (or 30 pound sterling). Now the sound is the inaudible click of plastic rubbing against plastic. Hmmm what is your credit limit? 2o,000, 100,000 for each card, unlimited…????

My limit is $10. No, that is not per day – that is per month. They all hoped I would just give up, dig the hole myself, and throw myself in it.

Not yet! You Scrooges out there with your long noses and beady eyes – your time will come!! Plastic cards will be worth nothing and you will be unable to rub them together to stay warm.

I’d like to toast you then with some holiday cheer. But we will wait. There is plenty of holly where I live to decorate the halls and I’m more than willing to share my can opener…

 

 

Today’s prompt at WordPress daily writing prompt is Ready Set Go. Take ten minutes and just write – then post. I did take a moment to correct spelling errors but aside from that this is a straight write.

Photograph images are of my copy of A Christmas Carol circa 1938.