MY CHRISTMAS LIST GROWS SHORTER EVERY YEAR
(Bill Anderson)

Bill Anderson - 1968




My Christmas list grows shorter every year
Things just aren't the way they were before
My Christmas list grows shorter every year
It's almost not like Christmas anymore

SPOKEN:
I guess it's 'cause I came from a pretty big family
Christmas was always a big happy time
We used to swap presents with aunts, uncles and cousins
'Course most of the presents just came from the five and dime
I remember how I used to get such a big kick out of wrappin'
Just a simple little box and placin' it under the tree
Everybody at my house used to laugh and say that I was born
With a little too much of the spirit of Christmas in me
I left home a few years ago now 
And it seemed then that things started to change
Mom passed on, now Daddy's gone
Christmases seem sorta strange
Sister ran off with some weird kinda guy
I never did understand him too much
My kid brother's off somewhere in the Service
And he never was the kind to stay in touch
'Course I started my own family a few years ago
My wife and I had two of the cutest little girls
I remember last Christmas I really went wild
I bought them just about everything in the whole wide world
And I remember on Christmas Eve night I took 'em up on my lap
And I told them the story of Jesus
And of Santa Claus and the eight tiny reindeer
All I wish now is that the spirit of Christmas 
Could have lingered throughout the whole year
You see, my wife left me back in September
The kids are with her, I don't know where
I'd love to just send them a small Christmas card
To let 'em know that Daddy does care
'Cause Christmas is a time for sharing your gifts and your heart
With the ones that you love the best
But sittin' here tonight lookin' at this big sheet of paper
I don't even have one single address

My Christmas list grows shorter every year
Oh, what I'd give to just go back in time
My Christmas list grows shorter every year
The only name that's left this year is mine


(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - November 2010)