The holiest of holidays are those
Kept by ourselves in silence and apart;
The secret anniversaries of the heart.
(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Christmas at my house is always at least six or seven times more pleasant than anywhere else. We start drinking early. And while everyone else is seeing only one Santa Claus, we'll be seeing six or seven.
(W. C. Fields)

A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.
(Unattributed)

For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
(T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding)

Christmas - that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance - a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved.
(Augusta E. Rundel)

The merry family gatherings - The old, the very young; The strangely lovely way they Harmonize in carols sung. For Christmas is tradition time - Traditions that recall The precious memories down the years, The sameness of them all.
(Helen Lowrie Marshall)

No, Virginia, there is no Santa Claus. But important lessons and a sweet tale that makes glad the heart of childhood live on, at least until our imagination creates something even better. Your eagerness to know is wonderful! Have you ever scooped up a lost nickel, only to discover that it is a quarter? Santa is like that, a thousand times over. No, there is no Santa outside imagination. But why you were told about him is much better than if he were really real. Santa is a playful fantasy full of hope and happiness, inviting you down the challenging path to true adulthood. Yes, he embodies good will and generosity and inspires children everywhere to appreciate the difference between Naughty and Nice. But there is so much more that you and your friends are just now glimpsing, hidden behind the tale's knowing wink.
(Greg Perkins, The Objectivist Center, 2001)

Most Texans think Hanukkah is some sort of duck call.
(Richard Lewis)

In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it 'Christmas' and went to church; the Jews called it 'Hanukkah' and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank.  People passing each other on the street would say 'Merry Christmas!' or 'Happy Hanukkah!'  or (to the atheists) 'Look out for the wall!' 
(Dave Barry)

Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel,
I made it out of clay;
Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel,
Now dreidel I shall play.
(Unattributed)

Then I realized that we [Jews] have something better [than Christmas traditions]. We have fire. Think about it. The whole spiel of Hanukkah is lighting the menorah to commemorate the miracle of the lamp oil that lasted for eight days. Little kids like myself were handed matches and told to light the candles. I remember standing mesmerized in front of the flames as my mother and father gave us our nightly presents. It felt so dangerous. And in my book, just like rock beats scissors, danger beats tinsel.
(Barbara Rushkoff)

A three-year-old gave this reaction to her Holiday dinner: "I don't like the turkey, but I like the bread he ate."
(Unattributed)

As we struggle with shopping lists and invitations, compounded by December's bad weather, it is good to be reminded that there are people in our lives who are worth this aggravation, and people to whom we are worth the same.
(Donald E. Westlake)

One good thing about Christmas shopping it toughens you for the January sales.
(Grace Kriley)

A Holiday candle is a lovely thing; It makes no noise at all, But softly gives itself away; While quite unselfish, it grows small.
(Eva K. Logue)

Were I a philosopher, I should write a philosophy of toys, showing that nothing else in life need to be taken seriously, and that Christmas Day in the company of children is one of the few occasions on which men become entirely alive.
(Robert Lynd)

Christmas is the keeping-place for memories of our innocence.
(Joan Mills)

One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don't clean it up too quickly.
(Andy Rooney)

What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus? Claustrophobic.
(Unattributed)

What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace.
(Agnes M. Pahro)

The [Kwanzaa] holiday, then will of necessity, be engaged as an ancient and living cultural tradition which reflects the best of African thought and practice in its reaffirmation of the dignity of the human person in community and culture, the well-being of family and community, the integrity of the environment and our kinship with it, and the rich resource and meaning of a people's culture.
(Dr. Maulana Karenga)

I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.
(Shirley Temple)

Whatever else be lost among the years, Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing: Whatever doubts assail us, or what fears, Let us hold close one day, remembering Its poignant meaning for the hearts of men. Let us get back our childlike faith again.
(Grace Noll Crowell)

The one thing women don't want to find in their stockings on Christmas morning is their husband.
(Joan Rivers)

I once bought my kids a set of batteries for Christmas with a note on it saying, toys not included.
(Bernard Manning)

Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.
(Calvin Coolidge)

And in our world of plenty
We can spread a smile of joy
Throw your arms around the world
At Christmastime.
(Bob Geldof & Midge Ure)

And So This Is Christmas;
And What Have We Done?
Another Year Over;
A New One Just Begun;
And So Happy Christmas;
I Hope You Have Fun;
The Near And The Dear Ones;
The Old And The Young.
(John Lennon)

So stick up ivy and the bays, and then restore the heathen ways, green will remind you of the Spring, though this great day denies the thing, and mortifies the earth, and all, but your wild revels, and loose hall.
(Henry Vaughan)

New Year's Day is every man's birthday. 
(Charles Lamb)

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring-not even a mouse:
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
(Clement C. Moore)

If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.
(Moshe Dayan)

How many families, whose members have been dispersed and scattered far and wide, in the restless struggles of life, are then reunited, and meet once again in that happy state of companionship and mutual goodwill, which is a source of such pure and unalloyed delight; and one so incompatible with the cares and sorrows of the world, that the religious belief of the most civilized nations, and the rude traditions of the roughest savages, alike number it among the first joys of a future condition of existence, provided for the blessed and happy!
(Charles Dickens)

I wish you a merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year;
A pocket full of money
And a cellar full of beer,
And a great fat pig
To last you all the year.
(Old English Song)

At Christmas I no more desire a rose
Than wish a snow in May's newfangled mirth;
But like of each thing that in seasons grows.
(William Shakespeare)

"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more."
(Theodor Seuss Geisel, "The Grinch")

The best Christmas trees come very close to exceeding nature.
(Andy Rooney)

Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect.
(Oren Arnold)

Christmas renews our youth by stirring our wonder. The capacity for wonder has been called our most pregnant human faculty, for in it are born our art, our science, our religion.
(Ralph Sockman)

Which Christmas is the most vivid to me? It's always the next Christmas.
(Joanne Woodward)

When we recall Christmas past, we usually find that the simplest things - not the great occasions - give off the greatest glow of happiness.
(Bob Hope)

The rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting.
(Louisa May Alcott)

Something about an old-fashioned Christmas is hard to forget.
(Hugh Downs)

More quotations
(on subjects such as life, wisdom, community, love and happiness)

and information about the nationally touring inspirational public art project Dialogue, can be found on the Web at: DialogueProject.netChristmas is more than a time of festivities, family and friends; it is a season of generosity, gladness and gratitude.
(William Arthur Ward)

There was the little boy who approached Santa in a department store with a long list of requests. He wanted a bicycle and a sled, a chemical set, a cowboy suit, a set of trains, a baseball glove and roller skates. "That's a pretty long list," Santa said sternly. "I'll have to check in my book and see if you were a good boy." "No, no," the youngster said quickly. "Never Mind checking. I'll just take the roller skates."
(Unattributed)

Let the children have their night of fun and laughter, let the gifts of Father Christmas delight their play. Let us grown-ups share to the full in their unstinted pleasures.
(Sir Winston Churchill)

Christmas isn't a season. It's a feeling.
(Edna Ferber)

Calvin: Well. I've decided I do believe in Santa Claus,
no matter how preposterous he sounds.
Hobbes: What convinced you?
Calvin: A simple risk analysis. I want presents. Lots of presents.
Why risk not getting them over a matter of belief?
Heck, I'll believe anything they want.
(Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes)

The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others' burdens, easing other's loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of the Holidays.
(W. C. Jones)

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.
(Charles Dickens)

Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home!
(Charles Dickens)

When Christmas bells are swinging above the fields of snow,
We hear sweet voices ringing from lands of long ago,
And etched on vacant places
Are half-forgotten faces
Of friends we used to cherish, and loves we used to know.
(Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Christmas Fancies from Poems of Power)

What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace.
(Agnes M. Pharo)

Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.
(Calvin Coolidge)

A lovely thing about Christmas is that it's compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together.
(Garrison Keillor)

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.
(Hamilton Wright Mabie)

May this Festival of Lights bring blessings upon you and All Your Loved Ones.
May the Lights of Hanukkah usher in a better world for all humankind.
May Love & Light fill your home and heart at Hanukkah.
May happiness fill your home as you celebrate the Festival of Lights.
(Unattributed)

Christmas is a time when everybody wants his past forgotten and his present remembered. What I don't like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day.
(Phyllis Diller)

Instead of being a time of unusual behavior, Christmas is perhaps the only time in the year when people can obey their natural impulses and express their true sentiments without feeling self-conscious and, perhaps, foolish.
(Francis C. Farley)