I'm Staying Home This Christmas

I came across this photograph the other day. The tune is obviously not "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," and the syllables don't even match the rhythms. However, if you ignore the left-hand harmony, the tune sounds like a second theme of a song I may have heard before.

It started bothering me. The tune fragment kept running through my head with the words, "I'm staying home this Christmas," so I had to use it in a brand-new Christmas song addressing the stamp issue and the current Christmas season. You will find the tune on the stamp at the half-way point of the song. The "original" is in F major, and this song is a whole-step lower, in the key of E-flat major.



You can find a PDF here, and on this page of the IMSLP.

I have spared you a rendition with me singing, but I would be happy to host any festive readings of it (made at home, of course) on this page.

. . . And here's a festive recording by Susan Nelson!



(Thank you, Susan.)