Christian Christmas Poems
A Christmas Prayer
Christmas For Two
Christmas Love
Christmas Bells 1864
Christmas Wish for You
Timeless Christmas Message
The Magic of Christmas
Jesus is Better Than Santa
The Gift Of Christmas
A Star Shown Above
Advent Epidemic Poems
The Village Poem
Sweet Babe Jesus Poem
The Christmas Gift Poem
Jesus' Birthday Poem
Christmas Cake Poem
Week Before Christmas
Our Jesus From Galilee
His Humble Birth Poem
When I Dream of Christmas
Missing You At Christmas
Christmas Greetings
The First Christmas Lights
My Christmas Prayer
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Fun Christmas Poems
Christmas Nutty
Puppy's 12 Days of Christmas
Rudolph's Awesome Yule Rule
The Boy Who Laughed at Santa Claus
The Last Christmas Tree
Month Before Christmas
Hanging Baby's Stocking
Hanging round the Mistletoe
Gingerbread Man in a Pan
Snowball Fight Poem
Reindeer Rule Poem
It's A Computer Christmas
Holiday Diet Poem
Peace on Earth Poem
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Country Christmas Poems
Bunkhouse Christmas
Christmas in our Town
Quest for the Festive Bough
A Country Christmas
A Cowboy Christmas Poem
Cowboy's Christmas Prayer
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Christmas Poems
for our Military
Christmas Remembrance
On Watch Tonight Poem
A Soldiers Christmas Poem
Merry Christmas My Friend
A Soldier's Christmas Wish |
"TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,
HE LIVED ALL ALONE,
IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE
MADE OF PLASTER AND STONE.
I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY
WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE
AND TO SEE JUST WHO IN THIS HOME DID LIVE.
I LOOKED ALL ABOUT, A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS, NOT EVEN A TREE.
NO STOCKING BY THE MANTLE,
JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND.
ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.
WITH MEDALS AND BADGES, AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
A SOBER THOUGHT CAME THROUGH MY MIND.
FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT,
IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER,
ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.
 THE SOLDER LAY SLEEPING, SILENT, ALONE,
CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.
THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE,
THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER.
NOT HOW I PICTURED A UNITED STATES SOLDIER.
WAS THIS THE HERO OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?
CURLED UP IN A PONCHO, THE FLOOR FOR A BED?
I REALIZED THE FAMILIES THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS
WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.
SOON ROUND THE WORLD, THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE
A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.
THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM
EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS, LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.
I COULDN'T HELP WONDER HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE, IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.
THE VERY THOUGHT BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
I DROPPED TO MY KNEES AND STARTED TO CRY.
THE SOLDIER AWAKENED AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
"SANTA DON'T CRY, THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE,
I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, I DON'T ASK FOR MORE.
MY LIFE IS MY GOD, MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS.
"THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP.
I COULDN'T CONTROL IT, I CONTINUED TO WEEP.
I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS, SO SILENT AND STILL,
AND WE BOTH SHIVERED FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL.
I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT.
THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR SO WILLING TO FIGHT.
THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,
WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE, WHISPERED,
"CARRY ON SANTA.
IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE.
"ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH, AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND,
AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT.
"Merry Christmas, My Friend," has been a holiday favorite among 'leatherneckphiles' for nearly the time it takes to complete a Marine Corps career. Few, however, know who wrote it and when. Former Corporal James M. Schmidt, stationed at Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C., pounded it out over 17 years ago on a typewriter while awaiting the commanding officer's Christmas holiday decorations inspection... while other leathernecks strung lights for the Barracks' annual Christmas decoration contest, Schmidt contributed his poem to his section."
Over the years the text of "Merry Christmas, My Friend," has been altered to change Marine-specific wording into Army references (including the title: U.S. Marines do not refer to themselves as "soldiers") and to incorporate line-ending rhyme changes necessitated by those alterations.
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My vote is to have Christmas traditions all year round. You see at
Christmas time most people at least the ones I have met, always change just a
little for the better around Christmas. I do not know whether or not it is the
great yuletide Christmas carols, the festive atmosphere everywhere you go, or just some
hidden part in all of us that screams out,
