Monday, December 14, 2015



Friends,
It’s been one fine year and I could easily take up the bulk of this Christmas greeting with that sort of info but I’m going to keep it short – if not sweet (Though it was very “sweet” for me.) There was a lot of music made and lot of trips taken. There were new songs written, new friends and old friends and yours truly experienced a lot of love from both. There was good health, good food and good times all around. I hope your past year was one of wonderful memories and lots of hugs – in short I hope you were blessed. As I’ve been fond of saying the whole year – my cup has been beyond overflowing. It’s been so full as to have spilled out into the street and I hope, maybe some of those blessings I’ve been able to pass to the world at large. I have quoted this phrase more than once from “It’s a Wonderful Life” but I never tire of feeling the truth of it year after year, Christmas after Christmas – “Here’s to George, the Richest Man in Town”. I feel just like that too.  So here’s a  great big thanks to all of you who make feeling a genuine reality. And now to this year’s contribution, it is my latest foray into a comment on the commercialism of Christmas.

When Mr. Greed Almost Stole Christmas
Mr. Greed was the sort of man
Who could never get enough
Of Food, Clothing, Money
Of Anything at All
Not content with what he had
He constantly craved more stuff
Until one day he got in his greedy head
(For at heart he was a thief)
To make a play, to steal away
A sure money-making holiday
Which was already well on its way
To being in his pocket (as they say)
Some sleight of hand
Some bait and switch
Create tempting illusions
And just like that
Christmas would be his
He’d extol the rewards of big bucks
Over beliefs
And once beliefs were dead and gone
It wouldn’t take too much effort to get
The sheep-like masses, with no regret,
To join together and forget
The simple story, truly quite passe’
Far out of place in these SMART PHONE days
When heads bow not for grace or prayer
But robotic heads are bowed to be
Servants to technology
So Mr. Greed surmised
The child-like fairy tale wouldn’t stand a chance
In a world where God is no more than a word
And for quite a few a word that’s often heard
As a word absurd and not The Word
Now with a world like that how could he ever fail
“I’ll simply steal Christmas, it will be a snap
I’ve got plenty of disciples who will help me spring the trap
One day when they’re least expecting it
I’ll snatch that holiday
It will be a great, cash cow and nothing more
Except a feather in my cap”
So Mr. Greed, indeed was so very sure he would succeed
And he might have done just that
If none had dared to intercede
Or dared to heed the warning signs
But you see Mr. Greed made a fatal error
And flaw he failed to see
It was his failure to perceive a certain truth
Of course with dollar signs for eyes
He couldn’t realize that those who are truly wise
Knew deep in their hearts what mattered
They were not fooled, they dared to believe
They said --- “God is not just a word
Jesus, the one born on Christmas day
Was The Word
And if you think you can take such a life changing event
And stuff it in your wallet or turn it into some outlandish “whatchamacallit”
Well, that’s what we’d call absurd
So you can “take this to the bank”
(So to speak) Mr. Greed,
You’ll never steal Christmas
You’ll never succeed
Though God knows (I mean that literally too!)
That won’t stop you from trying
With your selling, seducing
Scheming and denying
Exalting, like some merchandising monarch,
The supreme sacrament of accumulating more and more
Well, we say, give it up, man
Because as it says in this quote
These three short lines from Mr. Longfellow”

“God is not dead nor does he sleep
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men”

So Mr. Greed, you see you’re bound to fail
Because of a basic fact you’ll never understand
For people of Faith --
Some things are not for sale

Merry Christmas
George Gagliardi, December, 2015