It's Christmas
(All Over The World)
By Keith Haugen
It's that special time of year, greetings
come from far and near
Each one brings a measure of delight
From far across the sea, they all mean so much to me,
They help to make this Christmas season bright.
From Spain comes their greeting "Feliz
Navidad,"
"It's the very best Christmas that we've ever had."
"Froliche Weinachten," our German friends write,
"We wish we could be there with you tonight."
It's "Joyeux Noel" from gay old Paree,
From Rome we hear "Buon Natale,"
In Samoa, "Manuia Le Kirisimasi,"
It's Christmas all over the world.
Our good friends in Norway are so far away
They'll phone us on Christmas, "God Jul" they will say.
The Filipinos add "Maligayang Pasco",
"It'll be a nice Christmas, without any snow."
"Kurisumasu Omedeto" from far off Japan"Vrolyk Kerstfeest"
in old Amsterdam,
"Shalom" from the land where Christmas began,
It's Christmas all over the world.
"Merry Christmas and G'Day" from
old Botany Bay
"Meri Kirihimete" the Kiwis all say,
It's sunny and bright on their Christmas Day
And it's Christmas all over the world.
We all greet each other, for world peace we pray;
We celebrate His birth on this Christmas Day,
We raise our voices together and say
That it's Christmas all over the world.
"Merry Christmas" we say in the
U.S. of A.
"Mele Kalikimaka" in Hawai`i nei.
It's sunny and bright on our Christmas Day
And it's Christmas all over the world.
Yes, it's Christmas all over the world.
Copyright 1986, C. Keith Haugen
"It's Christmas (All Over the World)" was written to show how universal is this Christian holiday. It was inspired in part by "I Wish They Didn't Mean Goodbye," by Ken Darby and Mildred Turner, whose song says "goodbye" in a number of different languages. "It's Christmas (All Over the World)" was sung (by the Love Notes) as the theme song in the half-time show of the Aloha Bowl Game at Aloha Stadium on Christmas Day in 1990 and has been recorded and released commercially in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, and Hawai`i by John Rowles, Rhonda, Butch O`Sullivan and Keith & Carmen. It has been performed by thousands of students in many school and church Christmas concerts and pageants in Hawai`i, on the U.S. Mainland, and in a number for foreign countries. It is often described as " . . . the next 'White Christmas.'"