Full of drink and full of meat,

On our SAVIOUR’S natal day,

CHARITY’S perennial treat;

Thus I heard a Pauper say:—

“Ought not I to dance and sing

Thus supplied with famous cheer?

Heigho!

I hardly know —

Christmas comes but once a year.

“After labor’s long turmoil,

Sorry fare and frequent fast,

Two-and-fifty weeks of toil,

Pudding-time is come at last!

But are raisins high or low,

Flour and suet cheap or dear?

Heigho!

I hardly know —

Christmas comes but once a year.

“Fed upon the coarsest fare

Three hundred days and sixty-four,

But for one on viands rare,

Just as if I wasn’t poor!

Ought not I to bless my stars,

Warden, clerk, and overseer?

Heigho!

I hardly know —

Christmas comes but once a year.

“Treated like a welcome guest,

One of Nature’s social chain,

Seated, tended on, and press’d —

But when shall I be press’d again,