Hi everyone! Just in case a person hasn’t noticed, Christmas is ON THE WAY, barreling down on us like a runaway rollercoaster. With Thanksgiving happening this week, Christmas will be here a little over 4 weeks from Thanksgiving Day. Some years, I’m more “in the holiday mood” than others, and I imagine it’s that way for everyone. My mom was a stickler for keeping our holidays in order–no Christmas-y decorating until Thanksgiving was over. As I get older, I agree with her in many ways, but gosh, I feel the need to get my Christmas decorating DONE so I can relax and enjoy it! LOL
Christmas always brings back wonderful memories of home and family, doesn’t it? One of the things I remember so well about my dad was how he could call forth the perfect quote for just about anything and everything. He always made Christmas a very special time of year around our house and was a true practical joker. He was a super-intelligent man with an IQ off the scale (I didn’t get that from him, sadly<G>) and as an adult, I understand why he was able to remember so many things and be able to say them at just the right time–as a child, it was a mystical thing. One of the things I’ve come to appreciate with adulthood is how hard my dad worked to provide for us. He loved to read and was an eloquent writer–I think if he could have made a living at it, he’d have given it a try himself. Thinking about him and his love for quotes prompted me to go in search of some heartwarming Christmas quotes.
I found some great quotes, published in ABOUT.COM, and wanted to share them with you. Here’s a picture of my dear mom, El Wanda, and my dad, Fred, when they were young newlyweds, back in 1944. Christmas is always an especially poignant time for me since my dad passed on December 23, 2007, and Mama followed him to heaven only 3 weeks later, on January 12, 2008. I love Christmas because they both loved it so much. Raised during the Oklahoma Dust Bowl days, the Depression, and being so very poor, they made sure that Christmas was a “feeling” and a special time for family, friends, and abounding love at our house. 
There were so many of these–I just picked a few, but they are all great!
Edna Ferber, Roast Beef Medium Christmas isn’t a season. It’s a feeling.
Bess Streeter Aldrich, Song of Years Christmas Eve was a night of song that wrapped itself about you like a shawl. But it warmed more than your body. It warmed your heart… filled it, too, with melody that would last forever.
Lenora Mattingly Weber, Extension Christmas is for children. But it is for grownups too. Even if it is a headache, a chore, and nightmare, it is a period of necessary defrosting of chill and hide-bound hearts.
Louisa May Alcott The rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting.
Charles N. Barnard The perfect Christmas tree? All Christmas trees are perfect!
Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol But I am sure that I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round… as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely.
W. J. Tucker, Pulpit Preaching For centuries men have kept an appointment with Christmas. Christmas means fellowship, feasting, giving and receiving, a time of good cheer, home.
Mary Ellen Chase Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind.
Dr. Seuss And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?
G. K. Chesterton When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?
Dale Evans Christmas, my child, is love in action.
Andy Rooney One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don’t clean it up too quickly.
Hugh Downs Something about an old-fashioned Christmas is hard to forget.
Freya Stark Christmas is not an eternal event at all, but a piece of one’s home that one carries in one’s heart.
Marjorie Holmes At Christmas, all roads lead home.
I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas (when it gets here!) and that many of these quotes make your heart glad this Christmas season! Thanks so much for being a regular part of our lives here at Petticoats and Pistols! For some reason, this is one of those years when I am SO ready for Christmas! Do you have any special Christmas quotes or poems you love? PLEASE SHARE!
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOODNIGHT! (But first, have a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING!)
A native Oklahoman, I've been influenced by the west all my life. I love to write short stories and novels in the historical western and western romance genres, as well as contemporary romantic suspense! Check my Amazon author page to see my work: http://www.amazon.com/author/cherylpierson
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I always liked the line from AChristmas Carol, “Scrooge and Bob Cratchit
Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.”
David, I love this, too. That is a great passage, and the last line is a perfect ending, IMO! So glad you stopped by!
I love your recollections from the past. Thank you for sharing, especially your memories of your parents. What a beautiful couple!
I love the Marjorie Holmes quote and have used it.
Or from the song, “There’s no place like home for the holidays…”
Merry Christmas! I’ll be decorating two days this week at the hospital, and it always puts me in the Christmas spirit.
Merry Christmas, y’all!
Denise, thanks so much for your very kind words. I think about that Marjorie Holmes quote a lot, too. The first year of my marriage I was in West Virginia with my hubby, but my entire family was in Oklahoma. We went to a Christmas part–so beautifully decorated, a huge tree with all kinds of presents and –well, it looked like something out of Better Homes and Gardens, and suddenly, I just broke down and started crying. Made it to the bathroom and recovered myself, without much fanfare, but it really hit me hard. I missed my family so much and just wished I could go home for Christmas. Of course, we were young and poor and that was out of the question, but that was a really tough Christmas for me. There’s no place like home for the holidays, for sure! Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas!
These are great. I love the Christmas Carol.
Have a very Merry Christmas, and enjoy your family this Thanksgiving.
Hi Tonya! Aren’t these all just so good? There were many more, too, but it would have been too long…LOL Hope your holidays are merry and bright!
I really do not have any and for some reason I am not into Christmas this year
Debra, I’ve felt that way so often in the last few years, but this year, I’m looking forward to it. Just dreading putting up the Christmas tree because I never have any help. LOL (Or with taking it down, either.) But that’s something I do for myself–yes, everyone else enjoys it (like the story of the Little Red Hen!) but I love it more than anyone, so I do it for me. I can’t do “all” the heavy decorating I used to do, but I always have my tree. Maybe as the time gets nearer, you’ll be more excited about it. But I get it. Some years are just like that. :((( Hugs, my friend!
Love Andy Rooney’s quote about the mess. This is so true but it just ends to soon as you children get older. Oh to have that mess right now.
Quilt Lady, I miss those years of when the kids were little, too. No grandkids for us at the present, and both our kids are in their 30’s, so those wonderful childhood times are long gone, but I sure do miss them! Hope you have a wonderful holiday season!
thanks for sharing today. you are right. because my mom loved thanksgiving, christmas and easter so much, so do I. these are all wonderful quotes. thanks for sharing.
Hi Lori, you are so welcome–glad to bring these quotes to you all today. All well worth giving some thought to and hopefully making the holidays a little brighter. These memories of holidays past are gifts from our parents, aren’t they? Hugs!
Great quotes! Thanksgiving is actually my favorite holiday. I’ll start decorating for Christmas the day after, though!! My Nativity will come out first, then the ceramic tree that a friend gave to me years ago.
Trudy, I haven’t started decorating yet–I wait until after Thanksgiving, but this year, I’m in the mood to do it NOW. LOL Happy holidays!
Hi, Thank you so much for sharing these quotes, I enjoyed reading them. I Love everything about Christmas, I start decorating for Christmas the first week in December. Have a great day and a great week.
Alicia, I wait until after Thanksgiving, too. For some reason this year I think I would jump the gun though and do it now, but I have to get ready for Thanksgiving! LOL Happy holidays. Glad you enjoyed the post!
Thanks for introducing us to your parents and I believe one of the best things that can happen to a child is having parents who love to read.
A book I like to read every year at Christmas is a children’s book called ‘The Littlest Angel’ because my grandma sent it to me since I was her youngest grandchild. I think when I received it I was too young to read but since then I’ve looked at it for 60 years…shrugs as writing this haha…
Actually I don’t really care about age that much because I feel like we’re all standing on different steps on the escalator of life. 🙂
Rachel, I couldn’t agree more about being so lucky to have parents who read–and parents who read TO THEIR KIDS even after they’re old enough to read things for themselves. There is such a wonderful bonding time when you spend time reading together.
I had that book, The Littlest Angel, when I was growing up. It was one of those “oversize books” that had glorious pictures in it. I remember loving that when I was little. When I got older, I could not get through it without getting emotional…such a beautiful story! And I remember how wonderful the pictures were. I still have my copy of it too!
You made me laugh about standing on different steps on the escalator of life! I LOVE THAT! Talk about great quotes! LOL Happy holidays to you, Rachel. Thanks for stopping by!
Cheryl, Thank you so much for sharing your memories and the quotes with us. I came from a large family that was on the low end of comfortable. With 6 children, even just one or two gifts each under the tree filled it up nicely.. One of my favorites you shared: ” Andy Rooney One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don’t clean it up too quickly.” That probably says a lot about my housekeeping methods. I can’t think of any other quotes I have heard or read over the years, but these have brought back good memories and feelings.
I hope you and your family have a good Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving weekend is when we traditionally start decorating. We have been out of time so much the past two months for conferences and medical appointments, that I have much unpacking and cleaning up to do before I can get serious about decorating. If we can get the outside decorations up, I will be happy with that.
Patricia, I have to say, being the youngest in the family was a great thing for me! LOL My sisters were 10 and 12 when I was born, so there was never any competition or jealousy about presents or not getting something I wanted–what I mean is, there were a LOT of things I didn’t get that I wanted, but I understood that we can’t have everything we want, and Mom and Dad always went to great pains to get the one or two items I just felt I couldn’t live without. And you know what? Lots of times it was a certain doll and a box of crayons and colorbooks that were my hearts’ desire! (There was more than that under the tree for me, but they were careful to try to get what was on the top of my list.) LOL I miss those “old days” so much. My dad had a super 8 mm camera and would film us all walking down the hallway with bed-head and bleary-eyed to the tree on Christmas morning. LOL Except for Mom, of course. She’d be saying, “Just a minute, Fred! I need to put on some lipstick!” LOL I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas this year–no special reason, it’s just one of those years that I’m “in the Christmas spirit”–and here’s wishing the same for you–a wonderful family holiday with all your loved ones!
Me Mum and me Dad stating: “Young man, if you don’t act better, all you’re going to get for Christmas is a lump of coal.” (Probably not what you’re looking for, but there it is.) Got one present at Christmas. We were poor, despite Dad working 60 hours a week in the oil fields. There were six of us. Still, we survived and there were smiles amongst the anxiety of the times. (As long as I did my chores and work assigned, things went forward without punishment.) 1940’s and 50’s.
Thanks for the interesting post. I thought you were asking for quotes from us. Well…it can’t all be good ones. Can it?
Well, Charlie, I love quotes of all kinds. My mom’s favorite quote to me was “Success is its own reward.” LOL That way, you see, I never made one dime off my “A’s” on my report cards as so many of my friends did back in the day. LOL Yes, it would have been nice to be recognized for my “success” by my parents, but they were more the kind that just expected nothing less from me and my sisters. :((( (I was a different kind of parent to my kids!)
Hope you have a Merry Christmas, Charlie, and before that, a wonderful Thanksgiving. We have a lot to be thankful for, don’t we?
Hugs, my friend!