Christmas Grinning

Christmas smiles have turned to frowning
Piles of debt have left us drowning
Payment plans leave heads to spinning
Making frowns of Christmas grinning

Christmas day anticipated
Sometimes feels too overrated
Tap to pay is much too easy
Bottom lines have left us queasy

Rising prices, strong inflation
Call for some imagination
To the brink we're always inching
Wearied by this penny pinching

Wasting hours to look for parking
Frazzled nerves are prone to sparking
Fighting lines in malls while shopping
Getting home at last and dropping

Tis the season of more spending
Time and resource all upending
Truth be told, if we were honest
Where's the joy we've all been promised?

Halls are decked and gables lighted
Ignorant, the kids, excited
While inside we feel deflated
At the day once loved, now hated

Strange how actions so egregious
Come to take the place of Jesus
Stuff conceals the babe in manger
Christ reveals the subtle danger

Selfishness left unabated
Means the Prince of Peace is traded
For some shiny, useless, trinket
All before we even think it

Room before His throne is spacious
Kneel repenting, He is gracious
Find in Christ a new beginning
To restore your Christmas grinning

This poem won second place for the December 2025 poetry contest