As winter storms push their way toward spring Christina Rossetti is the gift that keeps on giving. The winter may be bleak, but in that stark stillness gifts rise up:
In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.
Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshiped the beloved with a kiss.
What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.
If you want to indulge in a real treat listen to the superlative rendition by Kings College, Cambridge:
vitalwholeness 
I know you like Rossetti’s work, as do I. It is lovely. She also wrote “Love Came Down at Christmas”. Maybe she had a thing about that time of year. As you may have read in my book, Sisters in Song, “In The Bleak Midwinter” was written in response to a request from Scribner’s Monthly magazine for a Christmas poem. Among other things, it claims the acceptability of womanhood to Christ. Thanks for featuring this hymn.
Once I let go of the superficial–traffic delays, appointment cancellations…
the magic of a heavy, fat-flake, silent snow in the woods outside our window is like no other. It becomes easier to sit quietly, breathe, and quiet heart and mind as I take in the pure beauty of snow on snow on snow…