Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Luke 2:11
Words: William R. Huntington, in Sunday School Hymns (New York: General Protestant Episcopal Sunday School Union and Church Book Society, 1867).
Music: A. S. Allen (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know Allen’s full name, or where to get a good photo of him (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
Cheerily, cheerily, sing we all,
On Christmas Eve the shadows fall;
On Christmas morn the sunlight breaks,
And all the world to gladness wakes.
The leaves are dead, the birds are fled,
The little brooks’ tongues are tied with cold;
But bells may ring, and children sing,
For bright and warm is our Shepherd’s fold.
Refrain
Cheerily, cheerily sing we all,
For the day of the year, it draweth near,
We children love our own to call,
Christmas, sweet Christmas, welcome here;
O day of days most dear, most dear,
Christmas, sweet Christmas, welcome here!
Heavily hung is our Christmas tree,
’Tis burdened well for you and me;
The hemlock branches piled with snow
In native woods bend not so low.
God giveth all; the ravens call,
He heareth them: so let us begin;
He hears alway when children pray,
For He Himself a child has been.
Refrain
Help us, dear Lord, lest we selfish be:
All hearts are not so glad as we;
Remember then Thy poor tonight,
And flood their darkness with the light.
The hungry feed, the wanderer lead,
The sorrowing souls, the captive free;
And think, we pray, on this glad day,
Of those who have no Christmas tree.
Refrain