Christmas is a traditional nursery rhyme and Christmas song and is listed as number 12817 in the Roud Folk Song Index. The exact origins of the nursery rhyme are unknown, but the musical sheets did belong to the writer Edith Nesbit (Bland) 1858-1924 as she had composed a tune for the lyrics. The traditional version of the melody is done in the tune of Country Gardens but is also sung in other melodies.
Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat
Please put a penny in the old man's hat
If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do
If you haven't got a ha'penny, then God bless you!
The Courier-Journal December 24, 1911
