SOS - SEARCHING OUT STORIES INPUT FROM STORYTELLERS, TEACHERS AND LIBRARIANS These quotations were collected from 1998 through the present time. CHRISTMAS QUOTATIONS and GREETINGS AROUND THE WORLD (excerpts from Storytell posts plus additional research)

1) I have an idea for a Christmas decoration in my house, which will utilize my MANY cookie cutters, and would like to add little tags of Christmas quotes tothem. Anyone want to share their favorites? Needs to be quite short, like: Love is what you hear on Christmas morning, when you stop opening presents and listen.

2) I like the one from A Christmas Carol: I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year.

3) Christmas is for children of all ages. (Fred Flintstone, believe it or not)

4) And so, as Tiny Tim observed, "God Bless Us, Every One!" - Charles Dickens

5) 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

6) Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart. — Washington Irving

7) Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. — Norman Vincent Peale

8) It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air. — W. T. Ellis

9) Heap on the wood!-the wind is chill; But let it whistle as it will, We'll keep our Christmas merry still. — Sir Walter Scott

10) Bless us Lord, this Christmas, with quietness of mind; Teach us to be patient and always to be kind. — Helen Steiner Rice

11) May you have the gladness of Christmas which is hope;
The spirit of Christmas which is peace;
The heart of Christmas which is love. — Ada V. Hendricks

12) Christmas is the day that holds all time together. — Alexander Smith

13) At Christmas play and make good cheer,
For Christmas comes but once a year. — Thomas Tusser

14) The Farmer's Daily Diet
When Christmas bells are pelting the air with silver chimes,
And silences are melting to soft, melodious rhymes,
Let Love, the world's beginning,
End fear and hate and sinning;
Let Love, the God Eternal, be worshiped in all climes
When Christmas bells are pelting the air with silver chimes. — Ella Wheeler Wilcox

15) A good conscience is a continual Christmas. — Benjamin Franklin.

16) Remember, if Christmas isn't found in your heart, you won't find it under the tree. — Charlotte Carpenter.

17) Until one feels the spirit of Christmas, there is no Christmas. All else is outward display so much tinsel and decorations. For it isn't the holly, it isn't the snow. It isn't the tree not the firelight's glow. It's the warmth that comes to the hearts of men when the Christmas spirit returns again. — Anonymous

18) It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you...yes, it is Christmas every time you smile at your brother and offer him your hand. Mother Teresa

19) Christmas began in the heart of God. It is complete only when it reaches the heart of man. — Anonymous

20) There was a time when I was younger that I didn't believe in Santa Claus and now I know that Santa Claus exists.

21) Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night! from The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore.

22) Christmas is not a date. It is a state of mind. — Mary Ellen Chase

23) There is always somebody that one is afraid not to give a Christmas present to. — Anonymous

24) It helped her learn that something you create yourself is the best kind of present.
Jackie Kennedy, referring to a Christmas card Caroline made for her daddy, President Kennedy

25) What is bought is cheaper than a gift. — Portuguese proverb

26) Blessed are those who can give without remembering, and take without forgetting. Elizabeth Bibesco

27) A quote from a story about the Innkeeper who explains, I did what I could. This Christmas will you do the same?

28) Season's Greetings in various languages:
Afrikander - Een Plesierige Kerfees
Arabic - I'd Miilad Said Oua Sana Saida
Argentine - Felices Pasquas Y felices ano Nuevo
Armenian - Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand
Azeri - Tezze Iliniz Yahsi Olsun
Basque - Zorionak eta Urte Berri On!
Bohemian - Vesele Vanoce
Brazilian - Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo
Breton - Nedeleg laouen na bloavezh mat
Bulgarian - Tchestita Koleda; Tchestito Rojdestvo Hristovo
Chinese -
(Mandarin) Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan
(Cantonese) Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun
Cornish - Nadelik looan na looan blethen noweth
Cree - Mitho Makosi Kesikans
Croatian - Sretan Bozic
Czech - Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok
Danish - Glædelig Jul
Dutch - Vrolijk Kerstfeest
English - Merry Christmas along with:
Hanukkah & Winter Solstice
Esperanto - Gajan Kristnaskon
Estonian - Ruumsaid juuluphi
Farsi - Cristmas-e-shoma mobarak bashad
Finnish - Hyvaa joulua
French - Joyeux Noel
Frisian - Noflike Krystdagen en in protte Lok en Seine yn it Nije Jier!
German - Froehliche Weihnachten
Greek - Kala Christouyenna!
Hawaiian - Mele Kalikimaka
Hebrew - Mo'adim Lesimkha. Chena tova
Hindi - Shub Naya Baras
Hungarian - Kellemes Karacsonyi unnepeket
Icelandic - Gledileg Jol
Indonesian - Selamat Hari Natal
Iraqi - Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah
Irish Gaelic - Nollaig Shona Dhuit
Iroquois - Ojenyunyat Sungwiyadeson honungradon nagwutut.
Italian - Buon Natalie
Japanese - Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto
Korean - Sung Tan Chuk Ha
Latvian - Prieci'gus Ziemsve'tkus un Laimi'gu Jauno Gadu!
Lithuanian - Linksmu Kaledu
Macedonian - Srekna Nova Godina I Sreken Bozik
Manx - Ollick Ghennal Erriu as Blein Feer Die.
Maori - Meri Kirihimete
Navajo - Merry Keshmish
Norse-Danish - Gledlig jul
Norwegian - God Jul
Papua New Guinea - Bikpela hamamas blong
dispela Krismas na Nupela yia igo long yu.
Pennsylvania Dutch - En frehlicher Grischtdaag un
en hallich Nei Yaahr!
Polish -Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia
Portuguese - Boas Festas (Feliz Natal)
Rapa-Nui - Mata-Ki-Te-Rangi. Te-Pito-O-Te-Henua
Romanian - Sarbatori vesele
Russian - Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva
is Novim Godom
Sami - Buorrit Juovllat
Samoan - La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou
Scots Gaelic - Nollaig chridheil huibh
Serbian - Hristos se rodi
Serbo-Croatian - Sretam Bozic. Vesela Nova Godina
Singhalese - Subha nath thalak Vewa. Subha Aluth
Awrudhak Vewa
Slovak - Sretan Bozic (Vesele vianoce)
Slovene - Vesele Bozicne. Screcno Novo Leto
Spanish - Feliz Navidad
Swedish - God Jul and (Och) Ett Gott Nytt År
Tagalog - Maligayamg Pasko. Masaganang Bagong Taon
Tamil - Nathar Puthu Varuda Valthukkal
Thai - Sawadee Pee Mai
Turkish - Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun
Ukrainian - Srozhdestvom Kristovym
Urdu - Naya Saal Mubarak Ho
Vietnamese - Chung Mung Giang Sinh
Welsh - Nadolig Llawen
Yugoslavian - Cestitamo Bozic
•••••

Chinese Mandarin - Kung /hsi/ shen dan bing cu sing nien kuai le, if you want to say Christmas greetings and a happy new year. Although personally, at home we'd just say Shen dan kuai le, since our 'sing nien' (new year) is different from the Western calender. If you wanted to say Christmas greetings and a happy new year, however, Chu fu shen dan ji sing nien kuai le. I would. I don't guarantee it's the right way to do it, since I'm the most informal wretch at home when I'm writing in Mandarin.

Chinese Cantonese - Gung chuk sing tan, sun lin fai lok.
The version given, I can't make any sense of it, so I'm assuming something was left out because the 'year' part is missing. Again, New Year is generally referred to as the Chinese New Year, but I've heard it being greeted thus when the carollers came to the house. Suk-Yin 'Azusayumi' Lai.
(compiled by Chuck Larkin)

(This web page updated 8/17/05; 12/23/08)