Spirit Of Christmas By Henry Van Dyke It is a good thing to observe Christmas but there is a better thing than the observance of Christmas Day and that is keeping Christmas. Are you willing to stop down and consider the needs and desires of little children; to remember the weakness and the loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you and ask yourself whether you love them enough; to bear in mend the things other people have to bear in their hearts; to try to understand what those who live in the same house with ou want, without waiting for them to tell you; to trim your lamp so it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front of you so that your shadow will fall behind you; to make a grave of your ugly thoughts and a garden for your kindly feelings, with the gate open are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas. Are you willing to believe that llove is the strongest things in the world stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death and that the Blessed Life which began in Bethlehem is the image and brightness of Eternal Love? Then you can keep Christmas. And if you keep it for a day, why not always? But you can never keep it alone