Scripture Verse

Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11

Introduction

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),

portrait
William R. Huntington
1838–1909

Lyrics

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