1. The Lost Christmas Eve

Another year has come and past
like moments through an hourglass
and at the end of this year's trail
an offering, a final tale

of love, long lost
and then refound
and the child by which
those dreams were bound

of a dusty hotel
that was long past old
and the shadows and the memories
its hallways still hold

for things that are old
have the best tales to tell
and usually,
they tell them well

and so it's here, my dear children
that our story truly starts
when the lord sent once more to the earth
an angel, with a childlike heart

and on this night his mission was
to find somewhere on this earth
that human that best reflected his son
and carried on his work

and since this mission from his lord
had to be completed on this one night
the angel quickly unfolded his wings
and towards the earth took flight

and this night, in case you have not guessed
was once more christmas eve
when snow and light and angels' flights
all together weave

but of the angel's instructions
there was one thing more
that would make this journey to the earth
harder than all the ones before

for the lord had also told the angel
that he could only use his wings twice this christmas eve
once when he descended to the earth
and once more when he would leave
(not unlike ourselves some think,
or at least so i believe)

now this put quite a complication
in what the angel planned
for now he had to choose most carefully
exactly where he would land

he needed to find a single place
that would represent all mankind
but humans were such a varied lot
such a place would surely be hard to find

a single place where there would be
humans of every race and creed
the rich and poor, the thrilled and bored
the failures with those who succeed

but after a few moments
carefully placed in thought
the answer appeared in the angel's mind
the city called new york

and as he neared that city
where all those souls did dwell
he felt himself being drawn towards
an old, rundown hotel

for in a city that usually had
guards at nearly every single door
this one just had a sign that said "vacancies,
there is always room for one more"

now why the angel decided to stop there
he could not quite say the reason
but he thought the sign upon that hotel
somehow fit the sentiment of this season

now even after all these years
the building was still a work of art
and though some facade had crumbled here and there
most still had their parts

the walls were made of granite
not aluminum or steel
and every pillar and ballistrade
still had its artist's feel

every gutter had a gargoyle
every gargoyle had its wings
for angels can appreciate
other flying things

so he landed on a cathedral roof
across the street from that hotel
and looked down upon the world below
where all those souls did dwell

and sitting on that rooftop
with his friend the winter wind
he gazed carefully at that scene below
as he slowly took it in

the lost christmas eve

on a street in the night
in the cold winter's light
a child stands alone and she's waiting

and the light that's out there
it just hangs in the air
as if it was just hesitating

and the snow it comes down
and it muffles the sound
of dreams on their way to tomorrow

and when they appear
this night will hold them near
for where they will lead
she will follow

for here in this city of lights
this evening awakens
the dreams that it might
the winter it conjures
the spells it will weave
the snow gently covers the ground
christmas eve

in this scene
on this night
there's an ancient hotel
where shadows they do tend to wander

and the ghosts that live here
hold each moment so dear
for time's not a thing one should squander

and they recount their sand
as it runs through their hand
and examine each moment for meaning

it can be wished upon
till the moment it's gone
like day disappears into evening

for here in this city of lights
this evening awakens
the dreams that it might
the winter it conjures
the moment is seized
the snow gently covers the ground
christmas eve

merry christmas
merry christmas
merry christmas
merry christmas

christmas
christmas
christmas
christmas

through this night
the dream still wanders
as it was meant to be
and every year this night grows fonder

of children and circumstance
caught in this childhood dance
as the world turns around
keeping dreams on the ground

windows of frosted ice
prisming candlelight
and somehow we
start to believe

in the night and the dream
as it cuts through the noise
with the whisper of snow
as it starts to deploy

in the depths of a night
that's about to begin
with the feeling of snow
as it melts on your skin

and it covers the land
with a dream so intense
that it returns us all
to a child's innocence

and then what you'd thought lost
and could never retrieve
is suddenly there to be found
on christmas eve
on christmas eve
on christmas...

2. Christmas Dreams

Somewhere beyond where the light rarely goes
somewhere beyond where the dark barely breathes
somewhere this night where the dark only knows

she awaits ever patient
she awaits rarely seen
but her moments are taken
for in the dead of the night
gathering light
christmas dreams

i want to wrap all my moments around her
i want to watch as she glitters the night
floats her dreams in the air
people watch, children stare
at these tears of captured light

while she awaits ever patient
she awaits rarely seen
still her moments are taken
for in the dead of the night
gathering light
christmas dreams

and a tear falls upon her snow-white hair
and it runs to the end where it lingers there
then it falls through the air of a winter's sky
till it captures a dream and it's crystalized

let it go!
let it go!
this old world that i know

for soon everything will be changing
in a single glance
where it all enchants
and every hope is worth saving

and a tear falls upon her snow-white hair
and it runs to the end where it lingers there
then it falls through the air of a winter's sky
till it captures a dream and it's crystalized

let it go!
let it go!
this old world that i know

for soon everything will be changing
in a single glance
where it all enchants
and every hope
every hope
every hope is worth saving

3. Wizards In Winter

(инструментал)

4. Remember

Remember
remember
remember long ago

on a night with a gentle falling snow

falling snow
falling snow

can i offer you
what christmas dares
to know?

5. Anno Domine

On this night of hope and salvation
one child lies embraced in a dream
where each man regardless of station
on this night can now be redeemed

where every man regardless of his nation
ancestral relations
on this night the past can fly away

and that dream we've dreamed most
that every child is held close
on this night that dream won't be betrayed

all as one
raise your voices!
raise your voices!
all as one
on this christmas day!

all rejoice
raise your voices!
raise your voices!
all rejoice
anno domine!

on this night when no child's forgotten
no dream sleeps where he cannot see
no man here is misbegotten
and this night's dreams are still yet to be

where every man regardless of his nation
ancestral relations
on this night the past can fly away

and that dream we've dreamed most
that every child is held close
on this night that dream won't be betrayed

all as one
raise your voices!
raise your voices!
all as one
on this christmas day!

all rejoice
raise your voices!
raise your voices!
all rejoice
anno domine!

6. Christmas Concerto

(инструментал)

7. Queen Of The Winter Night

(инструментал)

8. Christmas Nights In Blue

Just another night in new york city
snow comes down looks real pretty
don't know how but suddenly there you are
with jelly roll morton playin' for the bar

inside here, lights are low
but each song has its own glow
as he floats them through that smokey air
you just can't believe he's really there

how old is he?
cannot say
but claims he taught cab calloway
and on this night i somehow believe him
knows every song that christmas got
even ones my brain has dropped
just him and that old fir tree
all lit up this night
electric blue

just another night in new york city
snow comes down looks real pretty
can't believe but suddenly there you are
talking with strangers sittin' cross the bar
suddenly, all are laughin'
this night's smart, always craftin'
building bridges nearly everywhere
hits a wall, it just builds a stairs

outside the colored lights they bleed
for snow is white and colors need
as it just comes down like pure salvation
it offers all its amnesty
and makes your neighbor different see
by the light of that fir tree
and this old bar
electrified in blue

i gotta drop dead simple
childhood view of salvation
perhaps that's how it was always meant to be
and the more i add up all this information
it seems it all comes down in the end to you and me

so you look around till you find a phone
then you call your mom and everyone at home
and the bar looks on and they start to cheer
when you talk to folks you haven't seen in years

and the snow comes down
and the children play
and they pray to god
it never goes away
and a childhood prayer
should never be denied
as the night rolls on
till it's carolized

carolized
carolized
carolized
carolized

and on this tree
the lights are done
but the colors here are down one
i guess it kind of fits the situation
ornaments still shining bright
watch them glitter in the light
just this old fir tree and me
all lit up this night
electric blue

9. Christmas Jazz

(инструментал)

10. Christmas Jam

Carolize
understand
turn it up
christmas jam

the band played on and on
with no one looking at their watch
and just when you thought it couldn't get any better
they would turn it up a notch

11. Siberian Sleigh Ride

(инструментал)

12. What Is Christmas?

What is christmas?
tinseled fairytales
day old stockings lined up in a row

what is christmas
could someone tell me that?
what is christmas?
surely, i don't know

and everywhere these lights
who needs to color night?
could this whole thing be planned?
i do not understand

this christmas
trees with colored lights
underneath they still are only trees
do you think that one day perhaps they might
find that christmas
is kind of a disease?

every year it's waiting for me
waiting for me
every year it constantly defies
placing strangers
there before me
there before me
spreading hope and cheer
mixed in with happiness
fraternal bliss and other christmas lies!

and there's one more thing that i have discovered
and i would now like you to know
the reason for christmas i now realize
is an excuse to tolerate snow
snow!
i don't even like the sound of it
anyway, where was i
oh, yes!

what is christmas?
candles everywhere
a fire hazard any other day
children light them
no one seems to care
all for christmas

every year it returns here
and every year it's waiting for me
why can't christmas disappear
and just pretend it never saw me
every year i get my hopes up
that it will somehow just leave
but every year i wake to find
that once again it now is christmas eve

13. For The Sake Of Our Brother

In a stable
in a manger
in the cold winter's air
in the arms of his mother
a child's lying there

in a city
in a village
though the years have gone by
the child still remains
with the dream still close by

and each year on this night that child reawakens
and each year on this night that hope rebegins
that the dream he has offered might one day be taken

for the sake of our brother
for the child who's forgotten
for the dream that is still lying there

o' come all ye faithful
joyful and triumphant
o' come ye, o' come ye
to bethlehem
come and adore him
born the king of angels

o' come let us adore him
o' come let us adore him
o' come let us adore him
christ the lord

in a stable
in a manger
in the cold winter's air
in the arms of his mother a child's lying there

14. The Wisdom Of Snow

(инструментал)

15. Wish Liszt (Toy Shop Madness)

(инструментал)

16. Back To A Reason (Part II)

Time
standing all alone
i bled for you
i wanted to
each drop my own

slowly they depart
but fall in vain
like desert rain
and still they fall on and on and on

got to get back to a reason
got to get back to a reason i once knew
and this late in the seasons
one by one distractions fade from view

so
drifting through the dark
the sympathy
of night's mercy
inside my heart
is your life the same?
do ghosts cry tears?
do they feel years?
as time just goes on and on and on

got to get back to a reason
got to get back to a reason i once knew
and this late in the seasons
one by one distractions fade from view

i'm looking for you
i'm looking for i don't know what
i can't see there anymore
and all my time's been taken

is this what it seems?
the lure of a dream
and i'm afraid to walk back through that door
to find that i've awakened

the night seems to care
the dreams in the air
the snow's coming down
it beckons me dare

it whispers, it hopes
it holds and confides
and offers a bridge
across these divides

the parts of my life
i've tried to forget
it's gathered each piece
and carefully kept

somewhere in the dark
beyond all the cold
there is a child
that's part of my soul

got to get back to a reason
got to get back to a reason i once knew
and this late in the seasons
one by one distractions fade from view
the only reason i have left is
you

17. Christmas Bells, Carousels & Time

(инструментал)

18. What Child Is This?

What child is this
who laid to rest
that i now find here sleeping?
do angels keep the dreams we seek
while our hearts lie bleeding?

could this be christ the king
whose every breath the angels bring?
could this be the face of god, this child, the son i once carried?

what child is this
who is so blessed he changes all tomorrows?
replacing tears with reborn years
in hearts once dark and hollow

could this be christ the king
whose every breath the angels bring?
could this be the face of god, this child, the son i once carried?

in the dead of the night
as his life slips away
as he reads by the light
of a star faraway

holding on
holding off
holding out
holding in

could you be this old
and have your life just begin?

reading by the light of a lost christmas day
it begins
reading by the light of a lost christmas day

tell me how many times can this story be told
after all of these years it should all sound so old
but it somehow rings true in the back of my mind
as i search for a dream that words can no longer define

reading by the light of a lost christmas day
and the time
reading by the light of a lost christmas day

and the time and the years
and the tears and the cost
and the hopes and the dreams
of each child that is lost
and the whisper of wings
in the cold winter's air
as the snow it comes down
and visions appear everywhere

reading by the light of a lost christmas day
in the air
reading by the light of a lost christmas day

in the dead of the night
as his life slips away
as he reads by the light
of a star faraway

holding on
holding off
holding out
holding in

could you be this old
and have your life just begin

reading by the light of a lost christmas day
it begins
reading by the light of a lost christmas day
it begins
reading by the light of a lost christmas day
it begins
reading by the light of a lost christmas day
it begins

19. O' Come All Ye Faithful

(инструментал)

20. Christmas Canon Rock

This night
we pray
our lives will show

this dream he had
each child
still knows

we are waiting
we have not forgotten

on this night
on this night
on this night
on this very christmas night

21. Different Wings

Dream, child
as childhood wants to do

dream all this night will allow
dream, child
dream with an angel's view
out there safe in your clouds

wait for me now
i will be there for you
no matter what
tomorrow may bring
this i will vow
i will be there
for this child with different

dream, child
stars have been rumored to
see dreams within newborn eyes
and in their arms i believe they do
keep safe until you arise

wait for me now
i will be there for you
no matter what
tomorrow may bring
this i will vow
i will be there
for this child with different wings

and so it's here our story ends
exactly where it did start
in that labyrinth of mystery
we call the human heart

for they say that without it
no one can truly live
and it also has been rumored
that without it, we cannot forgive

MERRY CHRISTMAS!