My Christmas drawing...

I still remember the Christmas drawings I made as a kid back in the sixties. We all did them didn't we? All those cut out stars that Mrs. Kemble wanted me to make for the nativity frieze.

Sugar paper and glue, and thick fat poster paint dribbling off the picture and onto the floor.
Oh little town of Bethlehem how still we see thee lie.

Jesus and Mary and angels and shepherds and that stuck on real straw in the scribbled manger, a halo of tinfoil around the baby Jesus' head.

Such fun and wonder and safety back then.
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by.

And then there was the making of Christmas cards to take home to our mums on the last day of term. Santa's and snowmen and reindeer and stars and those badly drawn camels with one, two, even three humps. "happy Cristmas mum - joy to the wold!"
Yet in the dark street sh-i-i-i-ineth the everlasting light.

Last day and the taking home of the Christmas tree decorations and paper chains, carefully coloured and gummed, fluffily festooned with cotton wool snow and smiles.

Brown paper, Santa, and stars.
Pine trees, snow, and dark.
Life, love, and hope.

And somewhere up above a snowman clinging to an uncertain and fragile existence in a fragile and uncertain world.
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

Can you see him?
I can.

Christmas is coming.

I can hardly wait.