Christmas is a lovely time to me,
Growing up in the midst of our large family,
Preparations would start about the second week in December,
The lovely smells from the kitchen, while we all sat around the big table to
make all the decorations, these are the things I'll always remember,
Mum made the marvelous Christmas pudding and lots and lots of Christmas cookies,
While we busily finished knitting Christmas red stockings, which Dad would hang
on the fireplace Christmas Eve, these were always filled with goodies,
Before Christmas came we always knew it was near-
We could smell it—we could feel it and the carols we could hear,
Mum played the piano and we'd all gather around to sing,
Christmas songs, Christmas carols our house would really ring,
Some evenings Dad would give us a real threat-
Chestnuts roasted in the fire-mmm they are lovely to eat,
Mum would quiet us all down to prepare us for bed,
But that was a hard thing to do—as we were so very excited with thoughts of
Christmas in our head,
Some evenings we would put on warm clothing—such as hats and gloves,
To go outside caroling—this we especially loved,
We'd come home all sung out and cold and tired,
And sit and enjoy hot cocoa and Christmas cookies by a big fire,
Mum would tell us all about the Christmas story,
They would repeat it every year—we would find it wondrous and exciting—never boring
Dad and the boys would go out and choose a lovely big Christmas tree,
They'd bring it home, it was the girls job to decorate it—this we did happily,
On the tree we'd pin many bright colored handmade decorations,
and on the top Mum would put her handmade lovely silver star and with it came the realization,
That Christmas is a marvelous time and we were lucky to share it,
Even though it meant lots of hard work to prepare it.
At last Christmas day arrived and it was always such fun,
Lots and lots of things to remember by everyone,
The rush down the stairs at 6 o'clock to see what Santa had brought,
The dressing up in our new clothes and go to church to sing carols and have quiet thoughts,
We always enjoyed coming home to our big Christmas dinner,
with our lovely Christmas pudding—this was always a winner,
Putting silver sixpences in the Christmas pudding is an age old tradition, and
this was so nice,
Cause we all wondered just who would get the lucky slice,
Dad would always bring in the christmas pudding for which we all waited with anticipation,
we knew it would be a sight to behold—so we waited full of expectation,
On the top of it Dad put brandy and then lit it and waited til it was all aflame,
Then he would enter the dining room soon, wink at Mum—to them it was a game,
They loved to hear our "oohs and aahs" with our eyes as big as a penny,
Then they would sit down and enjoy it—saying it was the best of any,
The evening eventually came and we knew we were ready for bed,
So we slowly went upstairs—said a quick prayer of thanks and snuggled down,
And pulled the sheets up to our head,
We'd close our eyes and knew we were so very lucky to be
Spending Christmas day in our large family.