Are You Ready for Christmas?


"Are you ready for Christmas?"
	People ask every day.
And to tell the truth
	I don't know what to say.
Oh, yes, the cards are all written
        The packages posted on time.
I've fought through the crowds
      Thought I'd loose my mind.

"Are you ready for Christmas?"
	Now what do they mean?
For Christmas it appears
	Is more like a dream.
Oh, the cookies are baked
	And the cider is mixed
And the lights on the house
	Are all firmly fixed

"Are you ready for Christmas?"
	How it rings in my ears
I thought of each Christmas
	Down through the years
Was the world all ready
	That first Christmas day
When they had no room
	For the Christ child to lay?

"Are you ready for Christmas?"
	I think to myself
It isn't an ornament
	You take down from a shelf.
To be ready for Christmas is not
	A clean house and a tree.
It is not a train set
	Or something you see.

To be ready for Christmas
	Means you have made room
For the Christ of Christmas
       Whose light pierced the gloom
That along with the tinsel and all
	The carols we sing
The most important thing in life
	Is to make room for a King.

To be ready for Christmas
	Is to know our Lord & Savior
To let the thought that He is here
	Control all of our behavior.
So that Christmas is not just
	One day in bleak December
But Christmas is what we need
	Always to remember.

To be ready for Christmas
	Is not remembering the past
But to live each day
	As if it were our last.
And that Christ is just about
	To come in through a door
To take us home to live with Him
	In heaven forever more.

George & Laurel Van Sandt, December 19,1997