Follow along with the lyrics as you listen to the accompaniment with melody guide for Christmas Pudding.

Introducing the song

Initiate a discussion with students, asking them what traditions they enjoy for holidays. How many different holidays are celebrated by students in the class?

Does anyone visit their grandparents as part of their holiday celebrations? How many students find it difficult to wait for these special days to arrive?

What do they do to help them wait?

Explore the printed music

This song has verses and a chorus.

• Find where the verse ends/the chorus begins.
• Verses have different words each time
• The chorus repeats the same words each time

Syncopated rhythms

For grade 2-3 students in an elementary music class, students will most likely use rote learning to internalize the syncopated rhythms of Christmas Pudding. Older grades or private vocal students with more experience may be able to manage a more advanced exploration of the notation that creates the syncopated rhythms in the song. Suggestions for more advanced discussion include the following.

• Find the bars where the notes are tied, causing them to be accented between beats 2 and 3. This is called syncopation and it gives the song a special kind of energy.
• In the verses, the tied notes are in bars 5, 7, 9, and 11. Notice that the syncopations occur in every other bar.
• The chorus has three bars that include tied notes before including a bar that has two equal notes (two half notes).
• Teacher: clap one phrase at a time, and have the students echo to internalize the syncopated rhythm of the song.
• Look at the word "Christmas" in bar 16 and bar 20. How are the two bars different? When you are first learning to sing the song, try clapping on the rest in bar 20 to be sure you don’t sing on beat 1. This syncopation is created by a strong start to the word “Christmas” starting on beat 2.

Add choreography

   VERSE 1 

• Christmas pudding - right hand out to the side, palm facing up (like serving a dish of pudding) and leave it in that position while singing the next line
• Christmas stockings - left hand out to the side, palm facing up 
• Hiding presents - turn both hand over, palms facing down and move hands forward like sliding something under a bed
• Beneath the bed - tilt head to the side with hands together for a “pillow”

Repeat opening actions

• Visions of sugar plums - tap both index fingers on either side of the head

      First half of chorus

• I’m waiting for… - cross arms and turn body a quarter turn to the right, continue to sing with face toward the audience

      Second half of chorus

• I’m waiting for… - turn body to face to the left for the second half of the chorus
• (On the quarter rest at the beginning of bar 20) - return body to face the front, keeping arms folded
• (second syllable of “Christmas”) - arms back down at the sides

   VERSE 2 

• Watch for Santa - right hand above the eyes, scanning to the left, four pulses
• Wake up early - stretch both hands over the head, like waking up 

Repeat first action

• Hurry up… - using the index finger, wag finger as if reprimanding someone

   VERSE 3

• Go to Gramma’s - silently step the beats
• Lots of turkey - stop walking and wait to rub belly when singing “gravy too”

Repeat first action

• It is my favourite - both thumbs up pulsing with the beat

I remember sitting at my piano working on this song in the evening when my three young boys were asleep. I can’t remember if I was working on the song for my school or if I was inspired to write it because it was Christmas time. I wrote the original lyrics for this melody as a three-verse song about the Christmas story celebrated by Christians around the world and I gave it the title Sing “Gloria!”. As celebrations in schools moved away from including sacred texts, I wanted to continue to use the melody and the energetic accompaniment of this song with my students. I created new lyrics with a “secular” Christmas theme and my grade 2 and 3 students enjoyed learning this song for their class presentation for the school Christmas concert. In addition to these two variations, both the sacred and the secular Christmas texts have been translated into French. This song now has lots of options!

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