It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas (song)

Written by:	Meredith Willson
Date:	1951

"It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" is a classic Christmas song written in 1951 by Meredith Willson. It was originally titled "It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas", and has been recorded by many artists, but was a hit by Perry Como and the Fontane Sisters with Mitchell Ayres and his orchestra on September 10, 1951 and released on RCA Victor as 47-4314 (45 rpm) and 20-4314 (78 rpm). Bing Crosby recorded a version on October 1, 1951 which was also widely played.

Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Rumor

A popular but unproven belief in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia holds that Willson wrote the song while staying in Yarmouth's Grand Hotel. It makes reference to a "tree in the Grand Hotel, one in the park as well..."; the park being Frost Park, directly across the road from the Grand Hotel which still operates in Yarmouth. However, that was a popular name used by many hotels in numerous towns and cities.

Here's Love

The song was later incorporated into the pre-Broadway version of the score of Willson's 1963 musical Here's Love and can be heard on that show's original cast recording, where it is sung in counterpoint to a new melody and lyric, "Pinecones and Holly Berries."

In 1986, Johnny Mathis recorded the song for his album Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis; this version gained popularity after its inclusion in the 1992 film Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Gradually, it began to receive wide radio airplay, and for the past several years it has been a popular Christmas hit.

Lyrics

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Everywhere you go

Take a look in the five and ten

Glistening once again

With candy canes and silver lanes aglow

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Toys in every store

But the prettiest sight to see

Is the holly that will be

On your own front door

A pair of hopalong boots and a pistol that shoots

Is the wish of Barney and Ben

Dolls that will talk and will go for a walk

Is the hope of Janice and Jen

And Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Everywhere you go

There's a tree in the Grand Hotel

One in the park as well

The sturdy kind that doesn't mind the snow

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Soon the bells will start

And the thing that will make them ring

Is the carol that you sing

Right within your heart

Apprearences in Christmas specials

• A Chipmunk Christmas
• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
• The Polar Express (2004) - Part of the covered version of the song is heard in the background when the kids discovers the darkened gift wrapping room.
• Krampus (2015) - Starts halfway over the Legendary Pictures logo variation and playing over the entire opening credits sequence to kickstart the story.