May chaos bring beautiful strangers to your doorstep
offer unexpected wine to your lips
and give you a reason to laugh at yourself wryly.

Carmen Largaespada, St. Paul, MN

The following poem and paragraph were the beginning of my Family Christmas letter for 1997. Please bear with any misspellings in the 3rd stanza and edit where you like to fit the 50 word rule.

Good Tidings, Good Tidings,
We celebrate a birth,
Good Tidings, Good Tidings,
It happened here on earth.

Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas
We celebrate a king,
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas
The bells in churches ring.

God Jul, God Jul
The babe has come to live,
God Jul, God Jul
The babe has come to give.

Good tidings, Good tidings,
Give back the love he brought,
Good tidings, Good tidings,
You are the gift he sought.

Written in my mind during a winter drive home while listening to carols. It was a stormy night and a 35-minute drive took me 90 minutes to complete. A good time to either loose your cool, or let your mind work all on its own. A program on MN public radio inspired me. They were announcing winners of their Good Tidings contest, (a contest I did not enter) where you were to write a Christmas toast, greeting, or tidings of the season. This is NOT great poetry, but it does express the true reasons we celebrate Christmas. The surprising part is that I remembered it long enough to type it out on the computer when I got home. It is now November 1997 and time to send out seasons greetings to family and friends.

Judith Anderson

May you never have to lie, cheat, steal, or drink...
but if you must lie may you lie in the arms of a loved one
and if you must cheat may you cheat the kiss of death
and if you must steal may you steal away from bad company...
but if you must drink will you drink with me my friend.

Jack Hamre, Eden Prairie, MN

December,
Where is your snow?
Warm weather is fine,
But snow is divine.
Please, give us snow!

Liz Richardson, Austin, MN

The bells they are ringing;
The kids they are singing;
But the coins that were jingling;
Are in someone else's pocket now.

Bob James, Lawson, MO

May all your days be bright and may all your dreams be sweet.

Judith Anderson, Minneapolis, MN

A Toast to the Season
Jeweled nights and glistening days,
Join this Season's hymns of praise;
Readied feast and tree aglow,
Revelry of friends we know.

Lift we now our glasses high!
Coaxing cherubs from the sky;
Toast we with unbridled mirth
New Year's joy and Savior's birth!

Brother Aaron Raverty, O.S.B., Collegeville, MN

Live Long, Live Good, and Die Broke!

Bob Lovell, Maple Grove, MN

Christmas.
It is that time...
for making a rhyme.
For laughing and singing...
and listening to jingle bells ringing.
Love one another
is the holiday message...
as we finish the year
and continue our passage.
So to you my good friend
I am wishing
good cheer...
Lots of egg nog
and a happy new year

Christopher Latesta, Baltimore, MD

Angel Animals
In celebration of animals. You'd lick there too, if you could.

Allen and Linda Anderson