O Christmas Day!
O Babe, who in the manger lay,
Once more thy star its splendor spills
Across the sleeping Syrian hills,
Once more the strange old story thrills
The mind of man, till, sweet and clear,
Our songs run round the board, whose cheer
Makes laughing children leap, and say,
"O Christmas Day, O Christmas Day!" O Christmas Day, O Christmas Day!
How selfishness doth melt away!
All eyes with kindly joy do shine,
All lips say "yours, " instead of "mine; "
All hearts receive the Child divine,
Whose dimpled hands do now caress
This sad old world in tenderness;
Blue breaks through the skies of gray,
O Christmas Day, O Christmas Day! O Christmas Day, O Christmas Day!
How every year doth spread the sway
Of that dear King whose humble birth
Awoke the anthem "Peace on earth, "
And taught the weary world the worth
That in the lowly soul may dwell
Where rules the Prince Immanuel,
When Love has had his wondrous way,
O Christmas Day, O Christmas Day! O Christmas Day, O Christmas Day!
All hate and envy thou dost slay;
Buried deep beneath the snow,
Hid by holly and mistletoe,
O'er them advent angels go.
Hark to the choir of chiming bells!
This is the story the steeple tells:
God has come to this world to stay,
O Christmas Day, O Christmas Day!