At this time of year leading up to Christmas, with all its work and its fun,
I’ve taken time out to consider the leftovers when it’s all done.
When wrapping up presents there’s paper, bits too big to throw away,
Yet too small to wrap anything bigger then a matchbox but who’s to say?
Bits of string tangled up and discarded, “I’ll sort that out sometime I’m sure”
There’s sellotape mangled and twisted and some of it’s stuck to the floor.
There’s leftover labels we’ve cut out from other year’s cards sent to us,
So carefully pinked they’re a triumph, the inventor is so ingenioUS!
When making the cake and the pudding there’s bits that get left behind.
There’s icing too much to be wasted, too small to be saved, what a bore.
Then there’s sure to be some cards left over, we bought extra as ever in case
Someone sends to us who’d we’d forgotten and none of us wants to lose face.
And even right down to presents there’s that extra one we have obtained
For someone who might have decided to emigrate or might have remained We’ve put up the decorations and hung up the lights on the tree,
There’s leftover baubles and tinsel as far as our tired eyes can see.
When the cards come there’s envelopes torn off lying around upon chair and on floor
And postage stamps cut off for saving “O goodness here come some more!”
When Christmas is here there’s left overs, like nutshells trod into the floor.
Or flung on the gas fire in error, what to do about that I’m not sure.
You go to the fridge and my goodness, you can’t get another thing in.
The turkey, well what used to be one, just now the bird looks a bit thin.
The giblets leer up from a basin, I don’t know quite why I forgot.
The gravy was made out of stock cubes and some juice from the turkey I got.
There’s left over pudding and sauces, what to do with them isn’t quite clear
But somehow we’ll use them I’m certain, it happens the same every year.
The tree sheds its leaves and you find them trodden into the carpet around
And even the hoover refuses to pick them all up so I’ve found.
The holly is dried up and revolting, the berries have dropped long ago,
And now we’ve no fires to burn them, in the dustbin they’ll have to go.
But when Christmas is over and done with and you think of the new year to be,
There’s a leftover that’s so important, you don’t need reminding by me.
But still I’ll remember it with you; the goodwill and peace upon earth,
And the greatest thing about Christmas the reality of Jesus’s birth.
Let’s carry it forward together as we sing and recite and we share
The best leftovers we can imagine; show the rest of the world that we care.
