The Day After Christmas a Poem by Doug Brendel || Performed by Glenn Smith

The day after Christmas can feel hollow—muddy streets, drooping lights, long return lines, and a nagging sense that the moment slipped through our fingers. Glenn shares in a moving dramatic monologue authored by Doug Brendel about an elderly department store clerk who faces that familiar scene and quietly re-centers what matters. Between a counter stacked with refunds and a chorus of frayed tempers, he serves with patience and prayer, offering a living reminder that the heart of Christmas isn’t found in a receipt, a sale tag, or a perfect photo.

As the crowd presses in, small stories reveal a larger truth: a Bible traded for a toy, a holiday unraveled by mishaps, and a watch that won’t keep time. Then a woman drops a broken nativity on the counter. Piece by piece, the clerk restores the scene—until he finds the Christ child stuck to a price label, hidden under glue. That single image captures the tension of modern Christmas: the sacred buried under the urgent, the essential masked by the marketed. With gentleness, he returns Jesus to the manger, and something shifts. The woman softens. The store quiets, if only for a moment. And a city, through one ordinary act, sees what it has been missing.

We reflect on how easily meaning gets displaced by noise and how hope returns when we put Jesus back at the center—of our schedules, our spending, our serving, and our celebrations. This is a story for anyone who’s felt the post‑holiday slump, who’s wrestled with consumer culture, or who’s longing for faith that feels near and real. Walk with Glenn as he recites this tender tale and into a new year with hearts reset on what lasts: love, presence, and the joy that outlives the season.

If this resonated, share it with a friend, subscribe for our verse‑by‑verse studies, and leave a review to help others find the message. What will you put back in place today?

Chapters

• 0:00 A Holiday Monologue Gift
• 0:26 The Day After Christmas Begins
• 2:11 The Old Clerk And Lost Meaning
• 3:10 Returns Line Reveals Our Priorities
• 5:56 The Broken Nativity Uncovered
• 7:52 Putting Jesus Back In Place
• 10:20 Reflection And Gentle Challenge
• 11:33 Blessing And Invitation To Return

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

We hear it reasoning through the Bible normally do verse by verse Bible study. And if you're just listening to this, then encourage you to tune back in for our regular programming. But being around Christmas time, I thought I would pull out one of the old dramatic monologues that I did years ago in a in a Christian drama group that I was in. So this little piece is just uh think of it as a Christmas and New Year present to you. This is called The Day After Christmas, and it's by Doug Brendell. It was the day after Christmas, and all through the town there were signs that the season had nearly wound down. The overcast sky draped the city in gray as if anxious to drive Christmas spirit away. The sidewalks were icy and risky in places, a challenge to any pedestrian's graces. The policemen at corners and drivers of buses were cranky at being such unlucky cusses that they were the ones who were back on the beat after only one day spent away from the street. The cars parked downtown in the holiday crush were all spattered with mud and with goop and with slush. The lights were still lit along Main Street. They had not been altered a bit, and yet this day, the day after Christmas, they seemed to hang limp and unhappy, where once they had gleaned. It was into the scene that a gentleman came, as he had every day of the year just the same. An older man stooped by his dozens of years in a cap that pulled down to protect both his ears, and a scarf that had served him since Roosevelt's day, and a coat made of wool in the old-fashioned way. At one place on the street, the old man turned aside through department store doors and he shuffled inside to his window between ladies' jewelry and paint, where for years he had handled refunds and complaints. On this day after Christmas, the old man looked out from his window and saw what the season's about. The wreckage of last-minute sales in the store had strewn gobs of litter across the whole floor. The shelves that were empty were stark and forlorn. Where goods did remain, they were wrinkled or torn or cracked or broken or destroyed in some way by stampeding shoppers on the last shopping day. And the old man frowned at this world that had roared. For Christmas to him was the birth of our Lord, the day when our Savior we paused to remember, and not just the 25th day in December. So sad, he observed, that this message was muffled, and Jesus had gotten quite lost in the shuffle. And precisely at 10, the doors were thrown open for business again. For the day after Christmas, the sales are so good that you must get there first, like a good shopper would. And for those who are smart and whose thinking is clear, these sale items can be good gifts for next year. The gift wrap and candles and cards were reduced to give the year-end sales statistics a boost. And all through the store, consumers were crawling like ants at a picnic, because prices were falling. But lost in the squeeze. Overwhelmed by the din was the meaning and message that Christmas had been. But before long, the old man was busy himself, almost as if he were the post-Christmas elf. For many a person had come to complain about Santa's work with degrees of disdain. A woman plunked down her box with a thud and said, This present turned out to be a real dud. I bought my young grandson a Bible, but he would rather get something more useful from me. So let me exchange this and take him a toy that would really be more apropos for a boy. The old man filled out all the paperwork, but he was sad down inside as the cash door was shut. A man came in, blustering, muttering, mad, saying, This was the worst Christmas I've ever had. My daughter cried all night just because she slept at a visit from old Santa Claus. My son lost his nerve in the school Christmas play. I'm gonna come home now, is all he would say. The Christmas tree fell on the dog. And besides, I forgot to take pictures from the bean of slides. My wife is just furious! Some of the kids! This Christmas has put my whole life on the skids. And now, if you'd like to hear more, I'll arrange it. This diamond watch doesn't work right. Please exchange it. The old man prayed silently, watching him go. When your birth was recalled and tears came to eyes as the sacrifice made was again realized. And hearts full of joy turned to heaven in praise, as the spirit of love filled the city for days. Abruptly, a noise broke through the man's prayer. He looked up at a furious customer there. It's broken, she spat as she threw down the bag. I want a full refund. I brought you the tag. It's a wind-up nativity scene that won't run. Besides, if it did, it would not be much fun. I ordered a Santa with wind-up reindeer. But your store sent me this, and that's why I'm here. Look, I really must dash. Don't make an exchange, just give me the cash. The old man reached in with a grasp that was sure for the scene of Christ's birth, done in miniature. He held it before him, his old eyes still keen as they looked at that tiny nativity scene. The wise men that were standing just off to one side, the reins of their camel had all come untied. The shepherds who once had been kneeling were not. They had fallen, so the old man put each in his spot. His fingers replaced tiny Mary with care, and then stood tiny Joseph right next to her there. The lady, observing him, was watching, and she didn't understand the love that this old man because she had so little love. And then for a moment, his face clouded up, his his mouth tightened slightly, his brow wrinkled up, his eyes were exploring the scene with great care, for something was missing that should have been there. In the place where the Christchild would normally lay was a manger with nothing inside it but hay. The lady observing him was watching in awe as he set out to correct what he saw. He drew back the robe of each figure to see if beneath one of them the Christ child could be. The cattle were carefully moved and replaced as he looked for the baby who had been misplaced. And just as his heart almost gave up the cause, the lady observing him saw the man pause. And as she looked on, he carefully then took the stable and peeled off the price label. And there, in the grasp of the pricing tag's glue, was the baby called Jesus. As good as new. Then, gently back into the manger, he laid the tiny Christ child for whom it was made. They cover you up, the old man whispered low. With all of their buying and selling, you know. But there's still some of us who are seeking your face, and we'll just keep on putting you back in your place. The manger is empty for millions, I guess. And there's no manger at all for most of the rest. But Christmas is only a day off with pay, unless Jesus is born in your heart on that day. And the old man looked up for the very first time, saw that the woman was still there in line and listening to the opinions he'd voiced. And he noticed her eyes. They were gleaming and moist. Where once she was hard. Now her face was serene. And she reached out and took the nativity scene, and holding it close, like a treasure, she went. For she understood now what the manger scene meant. The manger is empty for millions. And yes, there's no manger at all for most of the rest. And Christmas is only a day off with pay unless Jesus is born in your heart on that day. The old man checked out at the end of the day and, as usual, shuffled off going his way. But I have to believe that the Lord Jesus looked down from the throne room of heaven upon the whole town. And of course, he could see all the holiday crush, all the cars parked downtown in the mud and the slush. And he could see all the cops and drivers of buses still angry at being such unlucky cusses. And he could see all the people who wanted to fight for the stuff that had been marked down overnight. But beyond all of that, I believed that he spied that old man walking home through the weather outside. And I have to believe that in all of the town, the Lord Jesus singled him out and reached down and touched the old man in a beautiful way for the true Christmas love he'd expressed on that day. Twas the day after Christmas, but only a start. For the Christ child was born once again in his heart. So that's the end of this poem. And again, that was called The Day After Christmas, and it's by an author called Doug Brendel. I would recommend his work. But I would ask you: have you put the Christ child where he belongs, or is he missing? And on this Christmas and holiday season, I would just encourage you to think seriously about the Lord Jesus Christ and put him in place. The poem's correct. If he's not where he belongs, then Christmas is just a day off with pay. And I think all of us need to take the manger scene very seriously. And it is a great time of enjoying him. We at Reasoning Through the Bible wish you a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year, and we encourage you to tune back for our regular Bible studies that will tell you more about Jesus and it will put him in his place.