It’s a big red truck with Coca Cola on the side,

It’s a John Lewis ad where we cried and we cried,

It’s Santa and Sinterklaas, Wenceslas, Kris Kringle

And baubles and tinsel, turkey-flavoured Pringles.

It’s Merry Christmas Everybody, Mistletoe and Wine,

Looped endlessly in shops, time after time.

It’s Do They Know It’s Christmas with a chiming bell,

And it’s buy, buy, buy and it’s sell, sell, sell.

It’s Dr Who specials, a speech by the Queen,

It’s Strictly and Downton, eyes glued to the screen.

It’s nights out and parties, over-indulging,

And wining and dining, waistlines bulging.

And

It’s buy now pay later, accumulation of debt,

It’s I got this and this, what did you get?

It’s consumer madness, avarice, greed

On the high street, where they think they’ve got what we need.

It’s the haunted expression in the eyes of the mums

Who can’t risk their wee ones being outshone by their chums.

It’s the queues and the traffic, tempers fraying,

And ‘Oh no, no the in-laws’, know what I’m saying?

It’s people with nothing, living alone,

No-one to talk to, no-one to phone,

Enjoying their Christmas as best as they’re able,

It’s a single setting at the Christmas table.

But

It’s O Come All Ye Faithful, sung by a choir,

It’s Away in a Manger, hymns to inspire.

It’s herald angels singing, it’s O Holy Night,

And Joy to the World, a world full of light.

It’s Mary and Joseph, shepherds and kings,

Gold, frankincense, myrrh, precious things.

It’s a star in the east, shining clear,

A beacon from heaven, banishing fear.

It’s recalling the night in a stable forlorn,

It’s about the coming of the child that was born.

It’s the birth of a Saviour, God’s only son,

Who was born to save us, every last one.