**[Overture]**

When winter's first snow begins to fall

And candles glow in every hall

My heart returns to days gone by

To Christmas past beneath this sky

Christmas memories, soft and golden

Stories cherished, gently holden

In my heart they still remain

Sweet joy touched with gentle pain

Laughter echoing through the years

Children's voices, parents' tears

Of happiness too deep for words

Like songs of long-forgotten birds

The scent of pine, the firelight's glow

Footprints dancing in the snow

All these treasures time can't steal

Christmas memories, ever real

I remember Christmas morning

Sunlight through the window dawning

Running down the wooden stairs

Finding magic waiting there

Father's smile and mother's song

Grandmother humming all day long

The table set with simple fare

But wealth beyond all compare

These memories are gifts divine

More precious now with passing time

No gold or jewels could ever be

Worth more than these to you and me

Do you recall that Christmas Eve?

The snow so deep we could not leave

**Baritone:**

The power failed, no lights to see

We sang by candlelight, just we

**Soprano:**

The world outside was hushed and white

**Baritone:**

Inside, our hearts were warm and bright

**Both:**

Christmas memories we share

Moments precious, moments rare

Though the world has changed its face

Love remains in memory's embrace

Time may steal so many things

But not what remembrance brings

In our hearts forever blessed

Christmas memories give us rest

Now I am old and silver-crowned

Yet still those memories surround

Like angels keeping watch at night

They fill my darkness with their light

**Baritone:**

Inside, our hearts were warm and bright

**Both:**

Christmas memories we share

Moments precious, moments rare

Though the world has changed its face

Love remains in memory's embrace

When my final Christmas nearing

Calls me to that distant shore

I shall take my memories with me

Treasure them forevermore

Christmas memories call me homeward

To a place I once belonged

Where the living and the departed

Join together in one song

I see faces gone before me

Loved ones resting from their pain

And I know that come the morning

We shall meet at Christmas again

Death cannot erase the treasures

Locked within a faithful heart

Christmas memories bind together

Those whom distance keeps apart

Christmas memories softly calling

**Tenor:**

Through the years they guide us home

**Soprano:**

In our hearts forever dwelling

**Bass:**

We are never quite alone

**Chorus:**

Christmas memories, sacred treasure

Gift beyond all earthly measure

In the silence, in the snow

Christmas memories gently glow

**All:**

Let us hold these moments tender

Let us keep this sacred ember

Burning bright through passing years

Christmas memories dry our tears

Past and present, interweaving

Faith and hope beyond believing

Love that time cannot destroy

Calls me to that distant shore

I shall take my memories with me

Treasure them forevermore