What do you want for Christmas? Ah, the truth, the answer to no other questions So complete serves as an index of what we are at heart At other times of the year, we can pretend and make believe But at Christmas time our true nature reveals itself And we act from the hidden motives that dominate our lives Come with me this Yule tide And let the heart express those wishes It has ever longed for but never dared express What is it we want? I want a few sincere friends who understand my loneliness Yet, remind loyal when I am silent I want a growing capacity to understand And respond to the unuttered sufferings of others Knowing that they fight as hard a battle against many odds even as I I want a sense of duty tempered with beauty A conception of work as a privilege And urge to justice mainly with mercy And a feeling that responsibility is my debt For the opportunity of living in a day when great aims are at stake I want a task to do which has abiding value Without which the lives of many would be poorer And the good I might do be eternally lost I want a sense of humor and the genius to laugh The grace to forgive and the humility to be forgiven The willingness to praise And the freedom to enjoy a little leisure with tantalizing dreams I want a glimpse of kneeling hillsides, the unresting sea The horizon and chanting plains And the thrill of a few high tangled bird notes keenly thinned I want a few wistful moments of quiet Amid the garish noises and fevered fret of the day And when twilight flecks the even tide with spotted shadows A sense of the presence of God