Transcript

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 1-4 NIV

Associate Producer

Brother Paul of Seattle

Podcast Introduction

We’ll read the chapters, I’ll share some thoughts about the reading, and we’ll have Christmas Question number 6 today. This time you’ll hear the question asked by the Lovely Lady LeeAnn who called it in on the ls fam hotline! And then our Christmas expert, James Cooper of whychristmas.com has the answer.

Comments on Ruth

I love this little book. The main characters Naomi, Ruth and Boaz are good and honorable people. Some of the people we’ve read about recently have not been overflowing with integrity, so it’s nice to read about good people for a change, don’t you think?

Naomi and Ruth seem to be gently and loving women. 

And Boaz seems so gracious. Notice how he greeted those who were working in his field. “The Lord be with you.” It seems like he genuinely liked them, that he didn’t look down on them as mere servants. I think their response confirms that: “The Lord bless you!”

Notice how the Lord directs our paths even before we know Him. Ruth had no idea that this field belonged to a relative of Naomi. But God knew, and He brought Boaz’s attention to her as she followed the harvesters, picking up the scraps they left behind.

Speaking of Ruth, there was something we read today that might have caused you to raise your eyebrows a bit. When Boaz was sleeping on the threshing floor and Ruth came in to lie at his feet, did that seem to you that she was being improper? Like maybe she was throwing herself at him? 

It wasn’t, really. According to Hebrew law, when a man died, his closest relative was to take his wife as his own. And since Ruth’s mother-in-law, Naomi, was not aware of a closer relative than Boaz, she must have told Ruth that Boaz was to be her husband, since Ruth’s husband had died.

So actually, Ruth’s actions that night were somewhat restrained, since she laid by Boaz’s feet instead of lying next to him. 

And Boaz, this man of integrity, carefully restrained himself as well, even taking care to have her leave before anyone should see Ruth there. He knew that there was a closer relative that had first right of refusal, and he didn’t want Ruth’s good name compromised.

These were, without a doubt, good and honorable people.

Do you remember how yesterday’s episode ended? Remember that I told you that Perez is in Jesus’ genealogy? Well, guess what. So is Ruth. Yep. So that’s a nice bit of history to tuck into your memory banks.

James Cooper Links

Here

And Here

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Ruth 1-4: Good People (LSFAB S13E066)

[TEASER – 0:00]
Maybe she was throwing herself at him?

[INTRO S13E066 – 0:10]
This is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible coming to you from Riverside, California, and podcasting since 2004, I’m your OG Godcaster Steve Webb. This is the daily podcast where we were reading through the entire Bible together in a year. The website is lifespringmedia.com. I am so glad you’re here today. Welcome. It’s always good to be with family. This is History Tuesday, and we’re going to read the little book of Ruth. And the title for today’s episode is “Good People.” We’ll read the chapters. I’ll share some thoughts about the reading and we’ll have Christmas question number six today. The Lovely Lady LeeAnn called in another couple of questions, and of course, I threw the questions to James Cooper of whychristmas.com. At the end of the show, I have a song from the fantastic singer-songwriter, Geoff Smith. Geoff Smith has been a talent in podcasting since almost the very beginning. He used to do music for Adam Curry and the “Daily Source Code,” and now he still does stuff for “No Agenda.” If you’re a “No Agenda” producer, you’ll probably recognize Geoff’s voice when I play the song for you.

So are you ready to begin the show? Okay, well, before we do that, let’s pray.

[OPENING PRAYER – 1:20]
Our heavenly Father, we thank you so very much for your Word. We thank you for calling us to this place. And now as we open your Word and read the book of Ruth. I pray, God, that you would touch our hearts. Teach us, Lord. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Okay, here we go.

[RUTH 1 (NIV) – 1:37]
Ruth, chapter 1.

(1) In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. (2) The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

(3) Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. (4) They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, (5) both Mahlon and Kilion had died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

(6) When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. (7) With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.

(8) Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. (9) May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”

Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud (10) and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”

(11) But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? (12) Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— (13) would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”

(14) At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

(15) “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”

(16) But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. (17) Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” (18) When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

(19) So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

(20) “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. (21) I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

(22) So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.

[RUTH 2 (NIV) – 4:49]
Ruth, chapter 2.

(1) Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.

(2) And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”

Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” (3) So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.

(4) Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!”

“The Lord bless you!” they answered.

(5) Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”

(6) The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. (7) She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”

(8) So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. (9) Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”

(10) At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”

(11) Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. (12) May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

(13) “May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.”

(14) At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.”

When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. (15) As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. (16) Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”

(17) So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. (18) She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.

(19) Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!”

Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.

(20) “The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.”

(21) Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’”

(22) Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might get harmed.”

(23) So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

[RUTH 3 (NIV) – 8:32]
Ruth, chapter 3.

(1) One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home for you, where you will be well provided for. (2) Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. (3) Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. (4) When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.”

(5) “I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered. (6) So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.

(7) When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. (8) In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a young woman lying at his feet!

(9) “Who are you?” he asked.

“I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family.”

(10) “The Lord bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. (11) And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all that you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character. (12) Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I. (13) Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the Lord lives I will do it. Lie here until morning.”

(14) So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, “No one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor.”

(15) He also said, “Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle on her. Then he went back to town.

(16) When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “How did it go, my daughter?”

Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her (17) and added, “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”

(18) Then Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.”

[RUTH 4 (NIV) – 11:07]
Ruth, chapter 4.

(1) Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there just as the guardian-redeemer he had mentioned came along. Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.

(2) Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, “Sit here,” and they did so. (3) Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek. (4) I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line.”

“I will redeem it,” he said.

(5) Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.”

(6) At this, the guardian-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.”

(7) (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.)

(8) So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal.

(9) Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. (10) I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!”

(11) Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. (12) Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.”

(13) So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. (14) The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! (15) He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”

(16) Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. (17) The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

(18) This, then, is the family line of Perez:

Perez was the father of Hezron,
(19) Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab,
(20) Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
(21) Salmon the father of Boaz,
Boaz the father of Obed,
(22) Obed the father of Jesse,
and Jesse the father of David.

[COMMENTARY – 14:31]
I love this book. The main characters Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz are good and honorable people. Some of the people we’ve read about recently have not been overflowing with integrity, so it’s nice to read about good people for a change, don’t you think?

Naomi and Ruth seem to be gentle and loving women.

And Boaz seems so gracious. Notice how he greeted those who were working in his field. He said, “The Lord be with you.” It seems like he genuinely liked them that he didn’t look down on them as just mere servants. And I think their response confirms that they said, “The Lord bless you!”

One of the things that comes to my attention as I read this book is how the Lord directs our paths even before we know him. Ruth was a foreigner, and she had no idea that this field belonged to a relative of Naomi. But God knew. And he brought Boaz’s attention to her as she followed the harvesters picking up the scraps they left behind.

Now speaking of Ruth, there were something that we read today that might have caused you to raise your eyebrows just a bit. Remember when Boaz was sleeping on the threshing floor, and Ruth came in to lie at his feet? Did that seem to you like she was being improper? Like maybe she was throwing herself at him?

Well, it wasn’t really. According to Hebrew law, when a man died, his closest relative was to take his wife as his own. We talked about that a little bit yesterday. Well, since Ruth’s mother-in-law, Naomi was not aware of a closer relative than Boaz, she must have told Ruth that Boaz was to be her husband since Ruth’s husband had died.

So actually, Ruth’s actions that night were somewhat restrained when you think about it because she laid at his feet instead of lying next to him.

And Boaz, this man of integrity. I really like Boaz. He carefully restrained himself, as well, even taking care to have her leave before anyone should see Ruth there. He knew that there was a closer relative that had the first right of refusal, and he didn’t want Ruth’s good name to be compromised.

These were without a doubt, good and honorable people.

Now, here’s one other thing. Do you remember how yesterday’s episode ended? Remember that I told you that Perez is in Jesus’ genealogy. Well, guess what? So is Ruth. Yep. So that’s a nice bit of history to tuck into your memory banks.

[LIFESPRING FAMILY HOTLINE – 16:58]
Isn’t it great to read about good people? Tell me what you think. Call the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511, or comment at comment.lifespringmedia.com, or send me an email at st***@*************ia.com. I do read every comment. I respond to everyone. And there’s a good chance I’ll play your audio comment or read your comment right here on the show. So send them in.

Tomorrow is Psalms Wednesday, and we’ll read chapters 27 through 29.

I am so thankful for Lifespring Family Berean Brother Paul of Seattle who came in with his monthly $20 donation. Thank you so much, Brother Paul. God bless you. Thank you for your support.

And, Beloved, these weekly and monthly donations are really great. They helped me to plan because there are several subscription services that I use to help get this show produced. And the monthly and weekly subscriptions are great. But you don’t have to sign up for one of those you can give just once if you want. Please know that the show would not be what it is without the support of the Lifespring family. So if you receive something from the Lifespring Family Audio Bible, if it has helped you in some way, maybe giving you a better understanding of a chapter or a book of the Bible, maybe in the discipline to stick to a Bible reading plan, whatever, consider supporting the show so I can continue bringing it to you seven days a week. This is show number 66 of season 13. Now for a year-long season, we’re really just getting started. So please do me a favor. Pray about it. See what God would have you do and then go to

[JINGLE SINGERS – 18:36]
lifespringmedia.com/support.

[CHRISTMAS QUESTIONS – 18:42]
Well, it’s December 6, and we’re going to have Christmas question number six, which is actually two in one and this one comes from the Lovely Lady LeeAnn.

[LEEANN WEBB – 18:51]
Hey, everyone, it’s LeeAnn. Merry Christmas. We’re on the season. And I need you guys to send in some more questions for Steve. We really want to make this a successful WhyChristmas season. And my next question is: Why the Christmas tree? Why did they choose a pine tree? Or whatever type tree it was at that time? And has that tree changed throughout the season? That’s two questions for James. So everybody join in and make this a wonderful fun time. Merry Christmas and blessings.

[STEVE WEBB – 19:24]
Okay, guys, you heard it. Send in those questions. I’ll talk more about that in a moment. Well, James, you heard the question. What about the trees?

[JAMES COOPER ANSWERS – 19:33]
In the previous show, I covered the general history of Christmas trees. But let’s have a deeper dive into these two questions. So why the Christmas tree? As I explained in the previous show they started as “paradise trees” which represented the tree in the Garden of Eden in plays told outside churches in medieval Europe. How they came from wooden frames with nails on them to people bringing in trees into real homes seems to be a bit of a mystery. They started with some sort of fraternities of brotherhoods having trees and also the story of Martin Luther bringing them into a house seems to have popularized them. And that leads us on to the next question.

So why was it a pine or evergreen tree, and has that tree changed throughout the years? Well, fir or other evergreen trees, like conifers were common throughout Northern Europe in the 14 and 1500s when trees became a thing, and that’s why they became the standard Christmas tree. There were lots of them around. They smelt nice. They looked alive during the winter to remind people that life was to come. And other evergreen plants had been used to decorate houses during the midwinter festivals for hundreds or even thousands of years. But it wasn’t just the fir tree or conifers or pines. In parts of northern Europe, other early trees included branches of cherry or hawthorn plants. You’d bring them inside, put them in a pot, and hope that they might flower in the warmth over winter. If you can’t afford a real plant, people also made pyramids of wood and they were decorated to look like a tree with paper, apples, and candles. It’s possible that these wooden pyramid trees were meant to be looking like the paradise trees that they’d seen outside the churches. Sometimes they were also carried from house to house, a bit like carol singing, rather than just being displayed in a home.

The custom of having Christmas trees was taken to the USA by settlers from Germany and other northern European countries. They also found evergreen trees in their new home areas, and so used them as Christmas trees. However, they were seen as a rather strange decoration by much of the population until the publication of the drawing of the British Royal Christmas tree in 1850. By the 1880s when Woolworths started selling glass Christmas tree decorations that they imported from Germany, Christmas trees were becoming a traditional decoration.

But traditional evergreen trees aren’t the only tree or plant used over Christmas around the world. In New Zealand, a tree called the “pōhutukawa” that has red flowers around Christmas time (which of course is their summer) has been associated with Christmas since the mid-1800s. In India, banana or mango trees are sometimes decorated. In Puerto Rico, you might use a palm leaf to decorate your home. And in the Dominican Republic, there’s a decoration called a “charamicos” which is a slang word for a dry tree branch. And they’re made from straw or flexible wood and painted white. They’re originally made to look like small Christmas trees, but now available in lots of shapes like stars or even animals.

And of course, people around the world now have artificial trees, whether they live in an area where trees like fir, spruce, pine, or conifers grow or not. Artificial Christmas trees really started becoming popular in the early 20th century. In the Edwardian period, Christmas trees made from colored ostrich feathers were popular at fashionable parties. Around 1900, there was even a short fashion for white trees. So if you thought that white or other colored trees were a new invention, well, they’re not. And over the years artificial trees have been made from feathers, papier mache, metal, glass, and. of course, many different types of plastic.

You can also decorate your tree in different ways. Apart from the traditional decorations, you could have a Jesse tree where all of the decorations tell stories from the Old Testament leading up to Jesus’s birth. They’re a bit like the paradise trees. Or like me, you could have a “nativi-tree,” where all of the decorations on it are something from the Christmas story.

So whatever your type of Christmas tree you have, wherever you put it, and whatever you put on it. Remember back to the first Christmas trees, paradise trees that told people the story of the Bible and the coming Savior of the world.

[STEVE WEBB – 23:25]
So my wife LeeAnn asked you to send in some questions have you sent yours in yet? I do need more questions to fill all the days before Christmas. I’ve got several in the queue. But there are still openings, which means that you still have a chance to be one of the ticket winners to see the movie “Jesus Revolution” when it’s released in February of 2023. To be in the drawing, all you have to do is send in your Christmas question. Each question you send in we’ll get you one entry whether or not I use your question on the show. So send in one question, get one entry. Send in five questions, get five entries, and you get the idea. Now this drawing for February is, of course, in addition to the drawing that I’ll be doing for a signed copy of my book, “Webb’s Easy Bible Names Pronunciation Guide” on Christmas, and the drawing for the Jesus Revolution movie will be on Christmas Day as well. But for the signed copy of my book “Webb’s Easy Bible Names Pronunciation Guide”, I’m choosing from the pool of questions that were used on the show. So some of your questions might be silly. Some of them you want to really make sure that it’s going to be show quality questions.

So to send in your questions, email me at st***@*************ia.com and put “Christmas question” in the subject line. And in case you’re wondering, LeeAnn does not qualify to be in the drawing, something about being related to the guy running the contest. She’s disqualified.

[SEND IN YOUR PRAYER REQUESTS AND PRAISE REPORTS – ]
Tomorrow is Wednesday, so that means that we’ll be sharing praises and prayer requests. So please go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com, if you do have a praise report or a prayer request, prayer.lifespringmedia.com. There’s an easy-to-fill-out form there. It won’t take you long to do it. After you tell me your name on the form you can tell me to keep you anonymous on the show and I certainly will do that. When I get your prayer requests, I pray for them in my private prayer time, and after that, of course, I share them on the show, prayer.lifespringmedia.com.

[OUTRO S13E066 – 25:27]
My thanks to the team: Sister Kirsty, Sean of San Pedro, and Sister Denise. You can comment on the show by calling the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511 or by going to comment.lifespringmedia.com or by emailing me at st***@*************ia.com. If you’d like to help me in my calling to proclaim God’s name please go to

[JINGLE SINGERS – 25:49]
lifespringmedia.com/support.

[STEVE WEBB – 25:53]
And the Christmas song I have for you today after I sign off is from Geoff Smith like I said earlier and it’s “My Own Merry Christmas.” Until tomorrow may God bless you richly. I’m so glad you made me a part of your day. My name is Steve Webb. Bye. Enjoy the song. Come on in Geoff.

[GEOFF SMITH SINGS “MY OWN MERRY CHRISTMAS” – 26:21]
The snow is falling down tonight
A carol’s ringing through the night this Christmas
A choir right outside your door
Could be singing one more song for you
If I could join them too, I would
But if there’s no other way
Than for me to be so far this Christmas
I could write a couple words and a tune
Here’s my Christmas melody for you

Go ahead and light the Christmas tree
Go ahead and hang the mistletoe
Go ahead and set another place for me
I will be there in your heart this Christmas
Snuggle close up to the fire
Pretend that I’m watching it with you
Though I’m many miles away
Please let my own Merry Christmas
Find a way to you today

So let me whisper in your ear
A thing or two you’d like to hear for Christmas
I’ll tell you that I’m coming home
Or I’ll be there when you carve the turkey
Trim the tree
Or maybe that a big surprise
Would be to see it in my eyes on Christmas
But if I couldn’t make it home
I could send it in a song you could play
While I’m far away

Go ahead and light the Christmas tree
Go ahead and hang the mistletoe
Go ahead and set another place for me
I will be there in your heart this Christmas
Snuggle close up to the fire
Pretend that I’m watching it with you
Though I’m so many miles away
Please let my own Merry Christmas
Find a way to you today

Go ahead and light the Christmas tree
Go ahead and hang the mistletoe
Go ahead and set another place for me
I will be there in your heart this Christmas
Snuggle close up to the fire
Pretend that I’m watching it with you
Though I’m so many miles away
Please let my own Merry Christmas
Find a way to you

Though I’m so many miles away
Please let my own Merry Christmas
Find a way to you today

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Transcript corrected by Denise