1. “Remembering That it Happened Once…,” by Wendell Berry:

… An April morning’s light, the air
Around them joyful as a choir.
We stand with one hand on the door,
Looking into another world …

2. “The Cultivation of Christmas Trees,” by T.S. Eliot:

… The child wonders at the Christmas Tree:
Let him continue in the spirit of wonder
At the Feast as an event not accepted as a pretext; …

3. “First Coming,” by Madeleine L’Engle:

He did not wait till the world was ready,
till men and nations were at peace.
He came when the Heavens were unsteady,
and prisoners cried out for release …

4. “The Nativity,” by Mary Karr:

… But in the muted womb-world with its glutinous liquid,
the child knew nothing
of its own fire. (No one ever does, though our names
are said to be writ down before
we come to be.) He came out a sticky grub, flailing
the load of his own limbs …

5. “Christmas,” by John Betjeman:

… And is it true? and is it true?
The most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained-glass window’s hue,
A Baby in an ox’s stall?
The Maker of the stars and sea
Become a Child on earth for me? …

6. A selection from “For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio,” by W.H. Auden:

… We who must die demand a miracle.
How could the Eternal do a temporal act,
The Infinite become a finite fact?
Nothing can save us that is possible:
We who must die demand a miracle …

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