Take a breath
Take another breath
Deep
It feels cold
It feels good to me
Twenty Twenty Three
Writing this in A&E
Choc with regrets
A tight chest
Might forget the festivities
Reassess passions and capabilities
Repair a cabin in the Pyrenees this December
Though I don’t have the budget
Or the timber
Yeah I’m some meek pretender

You don’t have to believe in Annual Gift Man
To realise there’s something happening
Don’t have to have no faith in magic
To find hope and love within this pageant

You don’t have to believe in Annual Gift Man
To realise there’s something happening
Don’t have to have no faith in magic
To find hope and love within this pageant

Doing laps
At the swimming baths
On Christmas Eve
Till they make me leave
The river’s high
The bridge is bouncing
Trying to pretend
That I’ve stopped counting
On a whim
Switch the phone back on
Retrieve what I’d swiped
In moments of doubt
Left unread on my account
Frozen out, but thawing
And fix some plans for the morning

You don’t have to believe in Annual Gift Man
To realise there’s something happening
Don’t have to have no faith in magic
To find hope and love within this pageant

You don’t have to believe in Annual Gift Man
To realise there’s something happening
Don’t have to have no faith in magic
To find hope and love within this pageant

We got aperitifs
We got dips
We got cracker carcases
We got wheels of cheese
A jigsaw and some DVDs
In card sleeves
Freed from the gutter dailies
I got new cable-knit knitwear
That’s scratchy and tight the neckline
Fussed your cat in the kitchen
Now I’m diligent in the corner
Separating sellotape from wrapping paper - yeah

Cos they don’t just recycle any old stuff you chuck in that bin, you got to put some work in too

I’ll sleep well
Tonight my pals
Bon Noël
Rêve de tomber

I’ll sleep deep
With vivid dreams
Bon Noël
Par de vieux amis

You don’t have to believe in Annual Gift Man
You don’t have to have no faith in magic