‘Christmas To Me’ by Riley Green - Lyrics & Meaning

On November 22nd, 2024, just days after his spine-tingling duet with Ella Langley at the CMA Awards, Riley Green surprised his loyal fanbase with an early Christmas present.

The Alabama singer-songwriter has become renowned as one of the most prolific artists in the modern country landscape, with a brand new album perennially on the horizon. However, there was one kind of release that we'd been yearning for Riley Green to add to his stellar discography for some time - a Christmas song.

Thankfully, ‘Christmas To Me’ doesn't find Riley Green dipping his toe into cheesy, synth-backed territory or offering up any sleigh-bell-themed wordplay. Rather, Riley sticks to what he knows best, and delivers a sincere, wistful ballad across a noodling guitar. ‘Christmas To Me’ marks the ‘Jesus Saves’ crooner's first release since the arrival of his widely acclaimed 2024 album, Don't Mind If I Do, in October 2024.

‘Christmas To Me’ meanders gently across an intimate, stripped-back acoustic instrumental, with Riley Green's weathered, rugged vocals enhancing the sense of nostalgia that pervades the track. The ‘I Wish Grandpas Never Died’ hitmaker infuses a feeling of warmth and fondness into his delivery, with Riley painting an idyllic, sepia-tinged picture of what Christmas traditionally looks like for the Green household.

“Right now Grandma's yard
Looks like a parking lot
Daddy’s making one last trip
Down to Bass Pro Shop
Everybody’s favorite covered up in grandmas wrap
All them grandkids lined up to sit on grandpas lap
Everybody’s in their Sunday best”

Riley Green opens ‘Christmas To Me’ by lacing the unrivalled feeling of pre-Christmas anticipation into each line, describing how his grandmother's yard is packed with cars from all the family-members. Meanwhile, his father makes a last-minute dash to the local Bass Pro Shop to secure the final bits and pieces required for the big day. There's an ambience of down-home simplicity, imbued with Riley's reverence for this way of life, which gives his Christmas portrait an added sheen of significance.

“And all them in-laws are showin’ up late
For a five star meal on a paper plate
The sound of bare foot feet runnin’ through the house
The football game's just about to start
About the time momma has a come-apart
Cause of sister's new tattoo she just found out about
There’s a string of lights all tangled around the tree
That’s Christmas to me”

The juxtaposition between the ‘five star meal’ that's been cooked up and the fact that they're eating on flimsy, paper party plates accentuates this idea of this perhaps appearing to be a modest Christmas from the outside looking in, but for Riley, they have everything they could ever want. He half-jokingly depicts a moment where his mother is enraged because she's just discovered his sister has a new tattoo. He concludes by toasting this montage as the epitome of ‘Christmas to me’.

“‘If We Make It Through December’ on the radio
Dancing on thе back porch under tall pine mistletoе
Watching all the little ones tearing open gifts
Grandpas tryna to hide that Copenhagen in his lip
Meemaw’s in that easy chair just smiling ear to ear”

Riley Green never misses an opportunity to pay homage to one of his favourite classic country artists, Merle Haggard. Here, he underlines that his ideal Christmas will feature some festive Haggard staples, such as his 1973 track, ‘If We Make It Through December’. Riley also looks back on how one of his grandfathers would always be attempting to conceal some Copenhagen dipping tobacco in his lip.

“A whole lot of hugs and handshakes
Lot of ‘Hey y’all, how ya been’s
For folks ‘round here it don’t get much better than this”

The comforting familiarity and easy geniality that underpins ‘Christmas To Me’ is embodied by this bridge, during which Riley Green rattles through the niceties that are exchanged throughout the festive season, before celebrating this time as the calendar highlight for those that still champion the bucolic, rural lifestyle he loves.

“Right now Grandma's yard
Looks like a parking lot
Daddy’s making one last trip
Down to Bass Pro Shop
Everybody’s favorite covered up in grandmas wrap
All them grandkids lined up to sit on grandpas lap
Everybody’s in their Sunday best

-

And all them in-laws are showin’ up late
For a five star meal on a paper plate
The sound of bare foot feet runnin’ through the house
The football game's just about to start
About the time momma has a come-apart
Cause of sister’s new tattoo she just found out about
There’s a string of lights all tangled around the tree
That’s Christmas to me

-

If We Make It Through December’ on the radio
Dancing on thе back porch under tall pine mistletoе
Watching all the little ones tearing open gifts
Grandpas tryna to hide that Copenhagen in his lip
Meemaw’s in that easy chair just smiling ear to ear

-

And all them in-laws are showin’ up late
For a five star meal on a paper plate
The sound of bare foot feet runnin’ through the house
The football game's just about to start
About the time momma has a come-apart
Cause of sister’s new tattoo she just found out about
There’s a string of lights all tangled around the tree
That’s Christmas to me

That’s Christmas to me

-

A whole lot of hugs and handshakes
Lot of ‘Hey y’all, how ya been’s
For folks ‘round here it don’t get much better than this

-

And all them in-laws are showin’ up late
For a five star meal on a paper plate
The sound of bare foot feet runnin’ through the house
The football game's just about to start
About the time momma has a come-apart
Cause of sister's new tattoo she just found out about
There’s a string of lights all tangled around the tree
That’s Christmas to me

That’s Christmas to me”

For more on Riley Green, see below: