OUR CHRISTMAS PHOTOGRAPH By Lori A Alicea

A Christmas Greeting Card
From Our House to Yours…

Our Christmas past, though long ago,
And Christmas almost here.
The magic of this day the same,
Ring in, Oh Christmas Year.

The guests are soon to all arrive,
The hustle’s always there.

The tree is decorated grand,
The gifts are picked with care.

The music plays around the clock,
Those Christmas tunes of cheer.
The cookies baked and cards sent out,
Just like we do each year.

Such secrets kept inside each gift,
And placed beneath the tree.
Our snooping kids who try and guess,
Just what’s inside for me?

Such fantasy this Christmas day,
Alive, the kid in us.

So worth the wait throughout the year,
So worth the added fuss.

And though we think that Christmas ends,
December twenty-five.
There is a place where joy remains,
And Christmas stays alive.

It’s after all the lights unplugged,
And tinsel put away.
And everyone returns back home,
No greetings left to say.

The place where Christmas stays alive,
You hear each other laugh.
You see what truly matters most,
That Christmas photograph.

From Christmas many years ago,
It seems like yesterday.

The faces of the ones we love,
All froze in time this way.

Our kids beside the Christmas tree,
We parents gaze awhile.
And long the days of Christmas past,
Their little hands and smile.

And best of all the pictures ‘round,
The table that we sit.
Together as a family,
And candles specially lit.

From year to Christmas year is best,
When gather ‘round to eat.
To give our thanks to God above,
For those in every seat.

Though looking back in Christmas time,
Some faces not aware.
Though how our lives were richly blessed,
The year we saw them there.

For those who live away from us,
We celebrate apart.When eyes we see an empty chair,
They’re seated in our heart.

This Christmas family photograph,
Is more than family strings.
From friends and neighbors more beside,
What gift their presence brings.

Though Christmas comes but once a year,
May every day we laugh.

And celebrate the ones we see,
Our Christmas Photograph.

Be blessed this season our friends,
Neighbors, relatives,
The family of God we were born into.

A Christmas poem I sent in our greeting cards
The year of 2004…

A message still true today…