Thomas Reed - The Old House at Christmas

There’s a light above the doorway That still burns the same old

way

And the porch boards make that little sound They’ve made for fifty

years or so

Snow is resting on the railing Smoke is curling from the roof

And somewhere through the kitchen wall

I can hear the old songs moving through

At the old house at Christmas

Everything feels close

The years don’t disappear They just sit beside you for a while

At the old house at Christmas

I remember what I know

Some places hold the people Long after people go (ooh,

mmhmm)

There’s a mark beside the doorway

Where we measured every year And the kitchen window still looks out

Across the field behind the house

There’s a crack along the staircase

From a winter long ago

Nobody ever fixed it

Nobody ever had to

I can almost hear the laughter

From a room that’s quiet now

I can see the coats along the hallway

I can see the faces somehow

And for a little while tonight I don’t need to wonder where

they went

Because Christmas has a way of bringing

Yesterday back in

There’s an old chair by the window

Where my father used to sit

And the table has a scratch across it

From some Christmas long ago

I run my hand along the wood

And smile at what I find

All the little marks we left behind

Are still right where we left them

At the old house at Christmas

Everything feels close

The years don’t disappear They just sit beside you for a while

At the old house at Christmas

I know exactly where I am

Standing in a house full of memories With winter in my hands

The light above the doorway

Still burns the same old way

And for tonight…

So do I.