Song Description

A bitter-sweet story of salvation at Christmas time.

Lyrics

It was about this time last year,
Doesn't seem that long at all,
The church had asked for volunteers
to help at the hospital,
They needed just a few people
to hand out gifts and toys
to all the sickly children there,
The terminal girls and boys,

Now, I don't care for hospitals
but I still went to see
if I could bring some cheer to those
sick kids who were lonely,
It's there I met that little girl
just lying in a bed,
She wasn't more than four or five,
She looked at me and said,

"Who is this Mary Crismis
and why is this her day?
I hear the doctors talkin',
The nurses celebrate--
I'd like to meet this Mary,
My name is Mary too,
Maybe she can
give me a hand
for I'll be dying soon",

I stammered as I groped for words,
My jaw had hit the floor,
What was this young child askin' me?
Something I couldn't ignore,
She said the nurses talked about
some old man dressed in red
But, there's no day named after him
so, once again she said,

"Who is this Mary Crismis
and why is this her day?
She must be someone special
to change the world this way,
I'd like to meet this Mary
and ask her for myself,
If she could do
anything new
for me, and try to help",

I placed a chair right next to her,
Then sat and spoke so coy,
"The only Mary I know of
was mother to a boy,
Now, she gave life to Him this day,
He died so we might go
to Heaven with our Father God
when we pass on also",

She paused--with eyes wide open,
Her gaze was far away,
she cracked a smile
and giggles riled
up as I heard her say,

"I think I know this Mary,
I've heard this all before,
My mother told this story
of Bethlehem and more,
So, Jesus came on this day
and He will come for me,
To take me to
a life brand new
to live eternally",

It was about this time last year,
It seems like yesterday,
But, time can pass you by, it seems,
and go its steady way,
And as this season makes its rounds
my heart is filled with bliss,
For I know that child is with those two--
Jesus--and "Mary Crismis",