Christmas Poems

Wednesday, December 24, 2025

Christmas 2025

Dear Friends and Family,

We are sending you our Christmas greetings from Michigan, USA with a video e-card, which we posted on YouTube, here. The text and image also appear below. Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday,

Ed & Shirley

Luke

I’m wondering

what it would be like

to be one of these shepherds

out in some field at night,

with a flock of sheep

in the dark

where all there is

is a rustle of wool

and bleating--

I’m wondering why

sheep don’t sleep

in this dream;

the other shepherds

are out cold,

the fire has dwindled

to coals

and I’m up

in a tight spiral

of insomnia,

too tired to get up

and toss another log

on the fire,

not really tending

to the flock at all--

these four-legged alarm clocks,

who rather than blissfully

jumping by one-by-one,

carrying me off

into the land of serene sleep,

woke me in the first place.

I realize

I’m tired of being a shepherd

where there is no quitting time,

the clothes are coarse wool,

sandals of dried leather

that bring out a blister

every spring.

Suddenly--

rest is no longer mine--

there is a host of heaven,

a cacophony of shooting stars,

I imagine,

with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

singing in the background,

bright lights in my blood-shot eyes,

and somewhere overhead a virtuoso trumpeter

is playing reveille,

annunciating an awakening

of other proportions.

I’m wide-eyed,

shaking from the core

more than the cold turn of night--

all I can remember is that

waterfall voice rumbling

"Do not be afraid,"

like standing on a fault line

in another dream

with the ground--

the very ground--

shaking,

having faith that this earth

still holds me

in the palm of its hand.

12 Mar 2004, 26 Dec 25

Cf. Luke 2:8-14

Sometimes a dream or imagination brings us to the precipice of awe, and paying attention leads us on its journey.

“The Sleeping Shepherd,” ChatGPT 5.2,
Dec. 2025

“The Turning Shepherd”, ChatGPT 5.2,
Dec. 2025

“The Awe-filled Shepherd,” ChatGPT 5.2,
Dec. 2025

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

Christmas 2024

Dear Friends and Family,

We are sending you our Christmas greetings from Michigan, USA with a video e-card, which we posted on YouTube, here. The text and image also appear below. Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday,

Ed & Shirley

He Comes

I am troubled on this bitter
cold morning
Yet He comes

The trees are naked
the pond frozen white
Yet He comes

There are gifts to still buy
and a reading to do
Yet He comes

This poem was a blank
screen with nary a character
Yet He comes

When I am empty
and hope a fog
He comes
He comes

13 Dec 24

© Copyright 2024, E. G. Happ, All Rights Reserved

“Sunrise, Sunset”, Sep. 25, 2024

Sunday, December 24, 2023

Chrismas 2023

Dear Friends and Family,

We are sending you our Christmas greetings from Michigan, USA with a video e-card, which we posted on YouTube, here. The text and image also appear below. Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday,

Ed & Shirley

Breaking the Stillness

Leafing through the notebook
I am searching the milestones,
the turns of phrase and page
that might speak
to this night
among all others.
“Write something new”
my conscience prods
as if this story needs
an added word.

I am reminded
that there was no
room at the inn,
that the Holy reaching down
had to ad lib,
the reservation
having been lost
and the weary travelers
needing rest,
there was a birth in the offing.

Something new
was in the center
of retelling this old story,
and before shepherds,
wise men,
and an angelic chorus,
there was a wail
breaking the stillness,
a Why
that was the Why.

23 Dec 23

© Copyright 2023, E. G. Happ, All Rights Reserved

St Luke the Evangelist Writing His Gospel watched by his symbol, an Ox, 17th Century, artist unknown.

Saturday, December 24, 2022

Christmas 2022

Christmas 2022

Dear Friends and Family,

We are sending you our Christmas greetings from Commerce, MI, USA with a video e-card, which we posted on YouTube, here. The text and photo also appear below. Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday,

Ed & Shirley

Gratefulness

The oak leaf dances
across the new ice
as the wind begins its howl,
the fire is lit
the easy chairs huddle
the holiday still a day away
yet gratefulness
begins in the heart
with the season it creates.

© Copyright 2022, E. G. Happ, All Rights Reserved

Photo © Copyright 2022, Shirley Chen, All Rights Reserved

Friday, December 24, 2021

Christmas 2021

Christmas 2021

Dear Friends and Family,

We are sending you our Christmas greetings from Ann Arbor, MI, USA with a video e-card, which we posted on YouTube, here, and below. The text and photo also appear below. Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday,

Ed & Shirley

Child at the keyboard

The child does not ask
if this is on the page
or if the notes are expected ones;
kneeling on the piano bench
they just play
using the keys as if they were percussion,
singing aloud
a joyful shout
that has us running for our phones
to record the event
for those afar;
The little delightful surprises
awaken our imagination
breaking into the "what has been"
with what is new,
what requires a pause,
our breath catching,
a broad smile
as we gaze
through the viewfinder,
a cry in our wilderness,
the push to write this down
and tell the story.

21 Dec 21

Poster - Save the Children

Saturday, December 26, 2020

Christmas 2020

Christmas 2020

Dear Friends and Family,

We are sending you our Christmas greetings from Ann Arbor, MI, USA with a video e-card, which we posted on YouTube, here, and below. The text and photos also appear below. Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday,

Ed & Shirley

Dandelion

The dandelions have gone to seed

and a once sickly field

has gone white with pods;

the wind shakes and carries

its seeds upward

as if snowing in reverse;

you stoop to pick one

and contemplate its single hope,

then make a wish,

blow hard,

and watch it join the flurry

to fall and find

new ground.

24 Dec 20

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Christmas 2019

Christmas 2019

Dear Friends and Family,

Ed & Shirley

Chocolates

We were just remembering

scenes from Forrest Gump

when the box of chocolates arrived,

just days after you left us.

The image of your gnarled hands

working the iPad screen

to ensure no one

was forgotten for the holidays

lingers;

that was who you were

giving before you gave

your final breath.

Grace sometimes travels

through the mail

in ways we may not see,

but it arrives

nonetheless.

We cannot remove the ribbon yet

and will save it for the gathering

around a meal with others

who come

as we came to your home

that first time

and tasted of the life

given away;

you taught us that,

and we will ever know

which one

we get.

"… life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." --Forrest Gump:

A package from Alice arrived today, seven days after she passed

I can say no more than this...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Christmas 2018

Christmas 2018

Dear Friends and Family,

Ed & Shirley

Communion

They run from the altar rail

having tasted the elements,

a pause in their play

this trio of young ladies

the Magi of the present

have come,

to pay homage to this rite

of passage

someone born

someone died

someone come again.

25 Nov 18

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Saturday, December 23, 2017

Christmas 2017

Dear Friends and Family,

We are sending you our Christmas greetings from Ann Arbor, MI, USA with a video e-card, which we posted on Youtube, here. The text and photo appear below. Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday,

Ed & Shirley

Eclipse

This day of omens
brought out everyone
to the fields, squares and beaches,
to where the horizon and its sky
filled our eyes like panorama photos;
we were ready to see
with our magic glasses and cardboard contraptions,
even colanders--
anything with a narrowing opening,
a blocking of all that would intrude on our retinas,
to a singular vision,
this silhouette
of one orb crossing another--
all that we do to see something we understand
comes only once or twice across our years
and we are ready,
with awe and a sense

that this time is one to pay more attention

than any other.

23 Dec 17

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Christmas 2016

Dear Friends and Family,

We are sending you our Christmas greetings from Stamford, CT, USA with a video e-card, which we posted on Youtube, here. The text and photo appear below. Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday,

Ed & Shirley

______________________________________________________________

Waiting

Sitting in this yoga pose,

the ceiling edges take their form;

still catching morning light.

Even the exercise is a waiting,

for the last moves,

the slowing of breathing

and heart.

My father waited for half his life

to retire, and then missed being busy.

A contract, a letter to be signed,

a moving date, a vote,

a purchase to be made,

all fill time.

We expect things will happen,

other transactions will be made,

always looming on some horizon,

but not yet.

Moses had to shed his shoes,

the innkeeper opened his stable,

the bush burst into flames

the mother-to-be wailing;

this is the moment about to be;

this is the waiting in fullness.

14 Dec 16

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Christmas 2015

Friends and Family,

We are sending you our Christmas greetings from Nyon Switzerland with a video e-card, which we posted on Youtube, here. The text and photo appear below. Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday,

Ed & Shirley

Search

I don’t remember his name

or the title of the poem,

but I remember I liked his work

and I’d like to add his book

to the wishlist

my children have asked me to update.

So I search.

I remember he taught

at a Midwest university,

or at least west of New York,

but "Midwest poet" turns up

Kooser and some others who

are not him;

"Current American Poet"

yields a long Wikipedia entry

with a phone book style menu

of letters.

I think his name begins with G or B,

but none of the names ring a bell.

So I start my own first letter game,

like a hymnal of first lines

that I do not remember,

but hope one will call up the first

notes,

the priest behind the screen,

the patron saint,

a fisherman with his net

Magi intent on a star—

I know he is there;

I can feel him next to the brain

location that is

next to "American Poet" who I

read recently,

or at least in the last few years.

Wasn't his poem

in one of the daily almanacs

that arrives faithfully each day?

So I try "poet George"

because now I’m convinced

the G is a George.

I begin flipping through the screens of daily

Vignettes,

hundreds of them in a reverse history

of sorts.

And that is what I want to do,

to go back

and say "A Ha,"

I remember you;

you were here all along.

17 Dec 15

Joyeux Noel et Bonne Année