The Velvet Hour - Christmas Eve at Eleven

The clock says eleven

The house has settled down

There’s still a little laughter

Drifting in from down the hall

The tree is throwing colors Across the living-room wall

And everybody’s whispering

Like Christmas might hear it all

The presents are waiting

Nobody’s touching them yet

The stockings are hanging

And the candles haven’t burned out

There’s wrapping paper on the table

There’s cookies by the plate

And somebody keeps checking the clock Like midnight’s running late

Christmas Eve at eleven

When the whole world slows its pace Christmas Eve at eleven

With the tree lights on your face

The night is still wide open

And tomorrow’s almost here

Christmas Eve at eleven

The sweetest hour of the year (mmm-mmm)

The children are pretending

That they’re going straight to bed

But every few minutes

One little face appears instead

“Can we have one more story?”

“Can we stay up till twelve?”

And somebody from the kitchen says “I remember saying that myself.”

The grown-ups keep on talking

About Christmases gone by

While somebody quietly watches The snow come drifting by

There’s something about this hour

You can’t quite explain

The waiting makes you notice

Every little thing

The sound of someone’s footsteps

The furnace turning on

The Christmas tree still glowing

Long after the children are gone

Christmas Eve at eleven Don’t let the moment hurry by

Christmas Eve at eleven With a million stars outside Tomorrow we’ll be

laughing Tomorrow we’ll be running through the house

But tonight we’re right here

And that’s enough somehow

Christmas Eve at eleven

Christmas Eve at eleven

Hold on to this little hour

Before midnight comes around The clock keeps moving

The snow keeps falling The tree keeps shining And somewhere in the

quiet…

(mmm) Christmas is

waiting.