where we all come in from the cold.

Drawn by warmth and promise,

cheered in flickering light,

we get closer to the flame

and each other.

Christmas is a place, like the hearth,

Where we gather

in anticipation

of Gift and Giver,

basking around a campfire

of retold story.

Stoking to keep it hotly burning.

Christmas is a place, like my heart,

where the Mary-me receives once again

astonishing news and says yes

to giving birth and being born,

to delivering and being delivered,

to remembering.

Mary Ann Parker 2011

previously posted in December 2011