On Christmas Day, in most households, the children are the first to make
themselves heard. There are shouts of wonder and glee from the nursery
bedrooms when it is discovered that Santa Claus has actually paid his
long-talked-about visit, and that he has brought in his wallet just the
things that were desired. The shouts of one awakens all the others, and
the chatter is great as the children rush about displaying their
new-found treasures to one another. This morning the nursery rules are
disregarded, because Christmas comes but once a year. Children are
permitted to run upstairs and downstairs in their night garments; to
skip about and laugh and chatter; and even to appear late at the
breakfast table. It is more than likely, indeed, that the breakfast
itself will be late, for the grown-ups in most households are usually as
excited as the children. But it is Christmas Day, a day of joy for
everybody. All the old stiff rules are relaxed for this happiest day of
all the year.
Yet the church must not be neglected, nor must it be forgotten that
Christmas is a sacred festival. To do honour to the Babe Jesus that was
born in a manger at Bethlehem--that is the real meaning of the gladness
of Christmas Day. So all you children should love to go to the church in
the forenoon. It will be pleasant for you in many ways, especially if
the air is clear, with a touch of frost in it, and the winter sun
shining brightly. In any case you will find that the service in church,
like the church itself, is brighter on Christmas Day than at ordinary
times. You will like to see the old church trimmed up with holly and
holly-berries; you will join in the cheerful Christmas hymns with more
than your usual heartiness. It will be pleasant for you to think that
all over the world, men and women of every nation are doing honour to
One who was once a child like yourselves.
Then it is home to dinner, a real Christmas Dinner. I do not suppose
that you will dine with a boar's head on the table, or that you will be
permitted to taste a peacock stuffed with spices and sweet herbs. These
were two of the dishes that figured in the good old times, but they
have long been discarded. Yet the Christmas goose is still popular, and
in almost equal favour is the roast beef of Old England. With you
children, however, the plum-pudding and the mince pies and the fruit
will be in most demand. How many helpings? I dare not say how many, for
Christmas Day brings its own appetite, but you must try--just a very
little--not to be greedy when the pudding comes in ablaze.
Because greediness is ugly, and also because Christmas does not end with
dinner-time. There is the evening with its romps, its games, its dances
and its Christmas Tree. It is the Christmas Tree, probably, that will
give you most pleasure, with all its glittering ornaments, its coloured
flags, and its lighted candles. This is a pleasure which English
children, in the old times, did not share, because the Christmas Tree
for children was only introduced to this country in the reign of Queen
Victoria. Indeed, the whole tendency nowadays is to make of Christmas a
children's holiday. This is well; because by so doing--by making the
lives of all children, and especially all poor children, brighter at
this season--we shall give most honour and praise to the Babe that was
born in lowly Bethlehem.