I’m dreaming of a white Christmas Just like the ones I used to know Where the tree tops glisten and children listen To hear sleigh bells in the snow I’m dreaming of a white Christmas With every Christmas card I write May your days be merry and bright And may all your Christmases be white

Tis a season for TV, sitting on couches, the houses are empty Tis a season for turtlenecks, itchy, and red, and festive Tis a season for walking, smoking, and talking, and smiling Tis a season for frantic, shoppers bustle busy and disenchanted Tis a season for cold drinks, just you at the table And too thick, hot chocolate In plastic mugs, and lost loves, on Christmas cable And this is not just a concept And institution of “give and get” Harbour hatred underneath your face scarf While the family passes down the serviettes Tis a season of darkness, days are short and hopeless Tis a season of Christmas lights, that all may see was born Jesus Christ (la, la, la)

(snow, snow, snow, snow) Christmas is that kind of season, when you wish you were home Warm by the fire with something to believe in, something to give you hope You know it can seem like, something empty A lot of noise a lot of light and not much feeling But all this must have echoed out from somewhere, perhaps a village in the sand Perhaps not in the month of December, or in a winter wonderland But if you look at, this all clearly You’ll see it doesn’t make a difference If you’re a Christian, or not religious, if this is a holiday, or if its Christmas Cause my God came, all the same, to collapse under my sin and then get back up again And when I get to heaven He’ll look in my eyes and say: “Son, you weren’t good enough, but I loved you anyway” So if you think you’re sick of Christmas, with your presents all unwrapped and your egg nog has run out Just thank God that’s not what this is all about

Is there room this year under your tree for the love and the hope and the joy and peace? Do your candlelit faces shine with Christmas warmth? Are you reaching for the handle on your Grandma’s front door? And Christmas time can sometimes feel like a thoughtless motion When tinsel shine, and coloured lights will capture your attention But the angels sang the praises, of a grace that still amazes And born is the king of whom carollers sing, whose birth is the reason for these glad tidings Merry Christmas To you

(and softly falling) [sung from outside through the balcony window of my 3rd floor walk up in Verdun, Montreal, in the middle of a snowstorm] So now the snow’s falling, thicker than flour To close you in and muffle your voice, till everything else goes sour Watching the grass wither, before your lonely eyes It’s last breaths choke as airways close from soft white herbicide And soon the world will be covered, and you feel so alone Your hazel eyes are turning white, reflecting off the snow The trees are slowly dying, turning to rot inside It’s changing the filter from technicolor, to the old days of black and white And softly falling A speck of life in the white out, it’s nearly, 30 below All the sounds of no one but you around, in the middle of the snow Your jacket’s in the closet, your scarfs in the window sill Out in the snow, in the cold meadow, you’re taking your sleeping pills And softly falling When I was younger, I purified the snow A coffee filter in the westcoast winter, on my Oma’s stove That day I knew for sure, that I had been deceived All the things it hides all the dirt inside, Snow is Ugly And softly falling

In his dream, the sky was clear, the uniforms were pressed and crisp In those days war was still a noble escape, so he went down to recruitment and chose to enlist Three months he trained, at Valcartier, placed a gun in his hand and said “you fight for the king” It was 1914 and his mind was still green without the slightest idea of what this war would bring And time passes slowly when you’re solid with fear, and there’s no way out no way away from here Spending long nights in a trench full of mud and disease, for the love of a country and the pursuit of peace Take me out, this is not what I was looking for Take me out, this is hell, this is pain, this is war And I have been mistaken Ypres in the mud, the wind in his face, “Over top the boys you’re tougher than nails” Into a green fog, he ran for his life, gritting his teeth he screamed a cry and inhale And time passes slowly as your lungs fill with blood A shocked look on your face face down in the mud And shiny copper buttons on a torn grey uniform Turning green from the chlorine as the clear grey sky is torn in two Take me out, this is not what I was looking for Take me out, this is hell, this is pain, this is war And I have been mistaken

Silent Night, Holy Night All is calm, all is right Received as a bastard From a lineage of hookers and kings The terrible smell, of the stable or cave All the less beautiful things Were there sheep and cattle, shepherds and angels? Wandering towards a star of wonder Three wise men, or fifteen Tell me honestly, does it matter? Silent Night, Holy Night All is calm, all is right Round yon virgin, mother and child Holy infant so tender and mild Tell me why do the holidays hurt? You go home to a family and they treat you like dirt Stuck to tradition like a ball to a chain So you stiffen your shoulders and step on the plane The irony kicks you square in the face Of a Silent Night, Holy Night When all is calm, and all is right I think Christmas is a time, when people lose their faith They see Martha Stewart’s stuffing, on Betty Crocker’s plates The contrast is cruel and clear with their failures and sins And the Christmas perfection going on in the Inn They say: “Who is this God that’s supposed to be able?” “Well that’s Him in the stable, with Shit for a cradle” About thirty years later, outside Jerusalem He’s the King of the Jews but the scorn of all men Naked and bloody on a cross in His shame Leaving this world just the way that He came And for that very reason, I can finally believe Though the world outside’s crumbling Tonight will be… A Silent Night, a Holy Night All is calm, all is right Sleep in heavenly peace; I can sleep in heavenly peace