Overview
"Shall we not to the whole world say, God bless you! It is Christmas Day!" With these words, Ideals Christmas 2000 begins to fill your home and heart with the wonders of winter and the joys of the holiday season. As you enjoy spectacular photos of the winter landscape, sit by the fire to contemplate the "poetry of falling snowflakes" with essayist Lansing Christman and remember the delights of a first Christmas tree with author Marjorie Holmes.As the holidays near, prepare your home and your gift list by learning how to make an heirloom advent calendar and how to collect blown-glass Christmas ornaments. Then grow your own potted Star-of-Bethlehem bulbs to brighten your mantel before greeting your holiday guests with one of our international Christmas breads or cookies. Before your first round of caroling, read of the life of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and the history behind his beloved carol "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." Then join us at his home in Cambridge for a Victorian holiday celebration.
With your new Ideals Christmas in hand, gather the family around the tree to read aloud such classic poems as "O Simplicitas" by famous poet and author Madeleine L'Engle. And as Christmas Eve night approaches, thrill once again to the Biblical account of the Nativity, and remind each other of poet Ethel Ballard Terry's urge to spend this blessed day listening for the angels' song:
Ethel Ballard Terry My Christmas Vow
Ethel Ballard Terry
I shall attend my tasks of love
This year-so that I shall have time
To walk beneath the altar-lit sky
And feel this magic hush sublime
That brings to earth the peace again
Which angels chanted clear that night
To shepherds watching flocks on hills
Of Galilee, beneath strange light.
And, if I'm quiet and listen long,
I too may hear the angels' song!