HOMETHE LORD'S POET POEM: What's Lost
STORY: Pops and Drops TRADITIONS OF CHRISTMAS: POEM: Barley Pops and Gum Drops
POEM: A New Tradition SHARE MINE-----------------------FIND YOURS POEM: No Connection
NO CONNECTION
There's often no connection
Between what my eye sees
And my mind recalls.
Curled ribbons on a gift
Call to mind paper stars
Made so many years ago.
But if you closely examine
The connection can be found.
It isn't in the visual impact
But the emotions deep inside
That join two such different things
Into one memory of Christmas joy.
                 Kathi Phillips
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POPS AND DROPS
One of my most treasured memories of Christmas is visiting my great-grandmother's home. She always had two treats for the children. The first was a barley pop, a lollipop made with barley sugar and shaped like a toy.  They had a distinctive flavor:  none!  But Christmas was not Christmas without a barley pop. The second treat was spice gumdrops the were on a special tree that decorated the center of Nana's dining room table. Children were permitted to take two:  one from the branches of the tree and one from the attached dish.  These treats required that I make the most difficutlt decisions of the year:  Which toy? Which colors? It often took me ten minutes to choose the perfect pop and drops!
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BARLEY POPS AND GUM DROPS
What is your fav'rite Christmas treat?
Is it gifts you get or food to eat?
What brings you joy beyond all measure
And fills your heart with joyous pleasure?
My mind is full of many thoughts:
Of gifts to make and ones I bought,
And cards to mail to friends not here,
And memories of other years.
I've memories without an end
Of holidays with special friends
But barley pops and spice gumdrops
Are surely, truly, quite the tops!
                Kathi Phillips
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A NEW TRADITION
Ribbon curls to paper stars:
Memories of Christmases past
That still fascinate.
Little things send my thoughts
Flying back to a distant time.
I look at the ribbon
Around a friend's gift
And my roving mind recalls
A Christmas Eve with Mom.
I was seven (or maybe six).
Mom placed before us
(My sisters and I)
Some paper and scissors,
Then patiently explained just how
To fold and cut and convert
That paper into lovely stars.
She then taped our efforts
To every window.
And another tradition was born!
                Kathi Phillips
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WHAT'S LOST
Christmas comes around once more
But we feel a troubled loss,
As if something were missing.
We know we should be
Expectantly joyous
In this season of giving
But try as we might
No efforts reveal
That which we've misplaced.
We seek and search,
Trying many ways
To return the kidnapped joy.
We look and seek
And search some more
Hoping soon to find it.
But we're simply unaware
That the reason we've lost it
With Christmas time
Is because we've totally lost,
Completely forgotten,
The full meaning of Easter.
        Kathi Phillips
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