It was almost Christmas time,
There I stood in another line.
Tryin' to buy that last gift or two.
Not really in the Christmas mood.
Standing right in front of me
Was a little boy waiting anxiously.
Pacin' around like little boys do,
And in his hands he held a pair of shoes.
And his clothes were worn and old.
He was dirty from head to toe.
And when it came his time to pay,
I couldn't believe what I heard him say.
"Sir, I wanna buy these shoes, for my momma please.
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size.
Could you hurry sir?
Daddy says there's not much time.
You see she's been sick for quite a while,
And I know these shoes will make her smile,
And I want her to look beautiful,
If momma meets Jesus tonight."
They counted pennies for what seemed like years,
Then the cashier said, "Son there's not enough here."
He searched his pockets frantically.
Then he turned and he looked at me.
He said, "Momma made Christmas good at our house
Though, most years she just did without.
Tell me sir, what am I gonna do?
Somehow I gotta buy her these Christmas shoes."
So I laid the money down.
I just had to help him out.
And I'll never forget the look on his face
When he said, "Momma's gonna look so great."
"Sir, I wanna buy these shoes, for my momma please.
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size.
Could you hurry sir?
Daddy says there's not much time.
You see she's been sick for quite a while,
And I know these shoes will make her smile,
And I want her to look beautiful,
If momma meets Jesus tonight."
I knew I caught a glimpse of Heaven's love
As he thanked me and ran out.
I knew that God has sent that little boy to remind me
What Christmas is all about.
"Sir, I wanna buy these shoes, for my momma please.
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size.
Could you hurry sir?
Daddy says there's not much time
You see she's been sick for quite a while,
And I know these shoes will make her smile,
And I want her to look beautiful,
If momma meets Jesus tonight."
I want her to look beautiful,
If momma meets Jesus tonight.
About This Song
It all started with a story that was circulating on the Internet in the 1990s, the story of a boy trying to buy a special pair of shoes for his dying mother for Christmas. The boy, whose meager savings wasn’t enough to pay for the shoes when he got to the cash register, was rescued by a kindly stranger who chipped the difference to help the lad buy them.
Out of that story grew “The Christmas Shoes,” a song written by Eddie Carswell and Leonard Ahlstrom of the Christian group NewSong. The song became a hit for the band on the country, AC and pop charts, and became a modern Christmas standard that paved the way for books and television movies based on the story. Oddly enough, “The Christmas Shoes” was never a hit at Christian radio.
The song recounts the events experienced by a narrator completing the last of his gift shopping on Christmas Eve. He is waiting in a checkout line but is "not really in the Christmas mood" when he notices a young boy in front of him who wants to buy a pair of shoes for his terminally-ill mother: the boy tells the cashier he wants her to appear beautiful when she meets Jesus. Since he is short on money, the narrator ends up paying for the shoes, which reminds him of the true meaning of Christmas.
