A Christmas Poem (to my Family 2004)

I got an unexpected, heartfelt Christmas gift from my sister Lori this year. She gave the same gift to my brother as well as our other two sisters. Lori is the middle sister — the one we always called “tattletale” — and her gift made me realize some things I hadn’t thought about before:

1) Lori doesn’t take her family — or where she came from — for granted.

2) Lori doesn’t yet realize how talented she is.

The gift was a framed poem she had written herself. She called it “A Christmas Poem (to my Family 2004),” had it printed on parchment paper with holly in the corners, and signed it — I Love You, Lori — at the bottom beneath the date.

This isn’t the first time Lori has written poems for us. She wrote one after our father was killed and it read like a personal letter she’d written to him. She told him all the things she wished she’d said before he died. That was the first time I realized my sister’s talent as a writer.

I plan to hang her Christmas poem on my office wall, and thought I’d share it here. If you’ve got family, I’m sure you can relate.

If you’re unable to view the image above, I’ve included the words below.

A Christmas Poem (to my Family 2004)

I wish you Merry Christmas, this poem’s my “Gift” to you

I’m sure that won’t surprise you . . . cuz my poems are nothing new.

So often life goes by too fast, that no-one figures out

Why they were put together or what family’s all about.

We’re not a family by some “chance”, there’s nothing that needs fixed

We each were chosen carefully . . . each adding to the mix.

He knew we each held something — A quality we had

One we would seek, and pass along . . . some trait of Mom and Dad.

We take these traits they gave us and spread out on this earth

But never really think about the miracle of birth.

A birth is how we carry on, the traits we each possess,

The special gifts God gave us, all each different from the rest.

That’s why there IS a Christmas . . . A special day each year,

To celebrate the ONE, whose birth gave ALL that you hold dear.

I think what was intended . . . is we each would do our part,

To take time for each other, which is the families HEART.

So this is why I want to say, and know there is no test

I’m glad he placed me in this group, among the very Best!!

There’s not another Family I would choose to call my own,

I feel so very lucky and there’s just – “NO PLACE LIKE HOME.”

I’m proud to be a part of you, I’m proud to call you mine,

And with you all around me I am blessed at Christmas time.

Merry Christmas!

(Copyright 2004 by Lori Mathes)

Thanks, Lori. Me, too.

Jody