Traditional Christmas Carol

All Hail to the Days

All hail to the days that merit more praise
Than all the rest of the year,
And welcome the nights that double delight
As well for poor as for peer.
Good fortune attend each merry man's friend
That doth but the best that he may,
Forgetting old wrongs in carols and songs
To drive the cold winter away.

This time of the year is spent in good cheer
And neighbours together do meet,
To sit by the fire with friendly desire
Each other in love for to greet.
Old grudges forgot, as put in the pot
And sorrows aside they all lay,
The old and the young do carol this song
To drive the cold winter away.

When old Christmastide comes in like a bride
With ivy and green holly clad,
Twelve days in the year, much might and good cheer
In every household is had.
The countryman's guise is then to devise
Some gambols of Christmas play,
When every young man does the best that he can
To drive the cold winter away.