Christmas Is Coming

"Christmas Is Coming" is a traditional nursery rhyme and Christmas song frequently sung as a round. It is listed as number 12817 in the Roud Folk Song Index.

Lyrics
The following are common representative lyrics:
 * Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat
 * Please [do] put a penny in the old man's hat
 * If you haven't got a penny, [then] a ha'penny will do
 * If you haven't got a ha'penny, [then] God bless you!

Although the lyrics begin appearing in print in 1885 and 1886, they are presented without an author and in a way of cataloging something that was already mostly common knowledge of the time. Some sources have variants of these lyrics and additional verses.

Music
The common melody paired with the lyrics is usually simply listed as a traditional English carol, while some sources curiously list the author Edith Nesbit Bland as its composer.

Another common melody, usually listed as a traditional English carol, is differentiated by an arrangement of it made by Walford Davies, published in 1914. The lyrics have also been paired with the melody of the English dance tune "Country Gardens".

Traditional collected versions
A few field recordings were made of traditional versions of the song,  including one sung by Jack Elliot of Birtley, Durham to Reg Hall in the early 1960s, which is archived within the  British Library Sound Archive.

Popular recordings
The Kingston Trio recorded the song as "A Round About Christmas", on their album The Last Month of the Year released in 1960. A calypso sounding version was featured on the 1979 album John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together and a loose, jazzy piano-based arrangement was featured in the musical score of A Charlie Brown Christmas.

The rhyme also became the basis for the song "Christmas Is a-Comin'", written by Frank Luther and performed by Bing Crosby, among others.