Christmas Is Coming

"Christmas Is Coming" is a nursery rhyme and American Christmas carol (frequently sung as a round) with lyrics as follows:

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat

(also, ... the goose is getting fat)

Please do put a penny in the old man's hat

If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do

If you haven't got a ha'penny, then God bless you!

A variant has the final line as "If you have no ha'penny, then God bless you!" Another variant is "Please to put a penny in the old man's hat" in the second line.

The traditional version of this song uses the melody of the English dance tune "Country Gardens", but other melodies exist. The Kingston Trio recorded the song as "A Round About Christmas", on their album The Last Month of the Year. A calypso sounding version of the carol was featured on the album John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together and a loose, jazzy piano-based arrangement was featured in the musical score of A Charlie Brown Christmas.

The rhyme also became the basis for the song '"Christmas Is a-Comin'", re-written by Frank Luther and performed by Bing Crosby, among others.