She opens the door to the old kitchen cupboard
    The smell of the spice seems to waft on the air
    And she reaches for something to hang on the Christmas tree
    But why does it need to be there ?

    She sits all the little ones down in a circle
    With cookies and milk at the close of the day
    And she tells them a story of a long ago Christmas
    These words that she wanted to say...
 

In the winter woods of Minnesota,
Times were hard, all work and no play
Father was gone to make a dollar,
And December he must be away
Christmas soon and Mother was ready,
To tell her children dear
"There'll be no Christmas, we have no money,
We'll have to wait till next year".

There were eight of us children under eleven,
Joe was the baby, a couple months old
Five older brothers and Walter the oldest,
They couldn't believe what was told
They said to mother, "There must be a Christmas,
We're set to make it so."
So they cut a small tree and decorated
With ornaments from long long ago

The next they needed was Christmas dinner,
The boys went out with rifle and snare
They soon returned with all they needed,
For rabbits were plentiful there
But still there were no Christmas presents,
No gifts for under the tree
But Walter had a shiny quarter,
Was determined that Christmas must be.

So Walter went walking seven miles,
Found in the nearest general store
Two dolls for the girls and a gift for mother,
Then he walked back seven miles more
On Christmas day and after dinner,
When all of the chores were done
My mother read the Christmas story,
And "Silent Night" was then sung.

It's many years later the most of a century,
That Christmas of nineteen hundred and four
I still have the gift from Walter to Mother,
It now means a thousand times more
A nutmeg grater, it's old and battered,
It hangs on my Christmas tree
To remind us of the Spirit of Giving,
Reminds us what Christmas can be.

A nutmeg grater, it's old and battered,
It hangs on my Christmas tree
To remind us of the Spirit of Giving,
Reminds us what Christmas can be.