Christmas
Lo ! now is come our joyful'st feast!
Let every man be jolly.
Each room with ivy leaves is drest,
And every post with holly.
Now all our neighbors' chimneys smoke,
And Christmas blocks are burning;
Their ovens they with bak't meats choke,
And all their spits are turning.
Wither (1588-1667). Christmas Carol.
And after him came next the chill December:
Yet he, through merry feasting which he made
And great bonfires, did not the cold remember;
His Saviour's birth his mind so much did glad.
Spenser. Faerie Queene. Bk. vii. Canto vii. St.41