Merry Christmas And Thanks For The Memories

I wake up in the twilight of my room
The house is silent my wife slipped away in the misty rain
In years gone by the house would be frantic now
But this year Christmas lunch is at my daughters again

Fond years ago by now my mother would be calling
My father would be standing watching pensively
On the fireplace a pan of cooking oil boiling
A batch of potato and flour dough patties browning

Inside pork belly roasted in the oven
While on the stove a pot promises perfectly cooked spaghetti
Dotted though it all steaming trays of hot Italian bread
Oh the pleasure and nothing else need be said
As we feasted in the heat of another seventies Christmas

And there was no cooling air conditioning then
The southerly buster was your only friend
And yet if I could I would
Go back there again
Back to another scorching  Aussie Christmas

Now I sip my coffee remembering those gone before us
All the people whom you loved and shared your Christmas with
In my mind through the years their faces come crowding
In my eyes my tears are uncontrollably welling
While in my heart an awful pain is swelling

Parents, grandparents aunts uncles cousins too
Schoolmates work mates family and friends
If I could before my own story ends
What I wouldn't give to share another Christmas with you

And along with all the faces
I remember the places
Where I spent my Christmases
Through the years

From the freezing foothills of Southern Italy
To the steaming red cliffs of  the Murray
From the beaches of Hawks Nest or Balmoral
Memories flash past in a pleasant flurry

Then there's all the people
Who because of the families expansion or estrangement
No longer can comfortably crowd inside a house with you
No longer can we just make do as our parents did all those years ago

And from the parents house of some long forgotten love
Both in  time and distance now so far
Families I could have had or been a part of
But different cards were played and here we are

Through it all without animosity or regret
I am grateful for the people who shared their lives with me
But through my misty memories there is some inherent sadness yet
In knowing that I'll never see most of these people and places again

Now the coffee in my cup is finishing
No more time left for selfish reminiscing
I'm on my way to see my granddaughter Jasmine
The latest little person waiting to share her life with me
On her very first Christmas day

So to all the people who have shared my life some place and time
What a pleasure it was to spend some part of Christmas with you
Apart from sending my best wishes and my love
What I'd give to spend another Christmas with you
What I'd give to make memories once again with you.

Merry Christmas and thanks for the memories.