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