When I was just a young girl my daddy gave to me

A little wooden box full of Christmas candy.

It was Christmastime at our house, and we didn't have much money

So Momma fixed some popcorn, and she dabbed it in some honey.

That was our Christmas treat, and we were happy that we had

Some popcorn balls, a Christmas tree, a momma and a dad.

I was just a young girl then who wanted pretty things,

I wanted all the "oohs and aahs" that gifts at Christmas brings.

I really didn't want the candy in that wooden box;

I wanted lots of toys and clothes and maybe new jackrocks.

But times were hard and work was slow, and they just could not buy

Toys and clothes and everything -- though I know that they did try

To make our Christmas joyful and filled with much delight.

So we would sit around the stove and all sing "Silent Night."

Well, now I'm old and Christmastime brings everything I want

But memories from my childhood invade my thoughts and haunt

Of Christmas past when I didn't have much money or new toys

But heard the sound of laughter from my sisters and the boys.

And now I sit in wealth and fame and ponder at my life

Of Christmastime when life was full of love and warmth and strife.

Oh, was it strife or was it me? I ask myself a lot

As today I look around me and see everything I've got.

But I don't have some special things that mean so much to me,

Like my grandma and my grandpa and especially my daddy.

But the one thing that I treasure most in all my wealthy world

It's not my home, my riches, my diamonds, or my pearls.

It's a little wooden box that dons my mantle in the den

A memory of the better days, of Christmas way back then.