Christmas Gifts Lyrics
Ten presents stand in a line, and one by one they disappear, each taken by a boy with a different name, until the last couplet gives the joke away. It is a counting-down rhyme from Carolyn Wells's Jingle Book.
Christmas Gifts
Ten Christmas presents standing in a line;
Robert took the bicycle, then there were nine.
Nine Christmas presents ranged in order straight;
Bob took the steam engine, then there were eight.
Eight Christmas presents - and one came from Devon;
Robbie took the jackknife, then there were seven.
Seven Christmas presents direct from St. Nick's;
Bobby took the candy box, then there were six.
Six Christmas presents, one of them alive;
Rob took the puppy dog, then there were five.
Five Christmas presents yet on the floor;
Bobbin took the soldier cap, then there were four.
Four Christmas presents underneath the tree;
Bobbet took the writing desk, then there were three.
Three Christmas presents still in full view;
Robin took the checker board, then there were two.
Two Christmas presents, promising fun,
Bobbles took the picture book, then there was one.
One Christmas present - and now the list is done;
Bobbinet took the sled, and then there were none.
And the same happy child received every toy,
So many nicknames had one little boy.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/christmas-gifts/
- Type
- Poems for Children, Counting Rhymes
- Written by
- Carolyn Wells
- Tune
- Read like a countdown, with a pause before the last two lines
- Best for ages
- 4 to 9 years
What Does Christmas Gifts Mean?
The poem counts down from ten to none, one couplet for each present. Robert takes the bicycle, then Bob takes the steam engine, then Robbie the jackknife, and so on down to the sled. The names look like ten different children, which is the trick. The last two lines reveal that all of them are one boy: "And the same happy child received every toy, so many nicknames had one little boy." His nicknames, in order, are Robert, Bob, Robbie, Bobby, Rob, Bobbin, Bobbet, Robin, Bobbles and Bobbinet.
The gifts are an old-fashioned set: a bicycle, a steam engine, a jackknife, a candy box, a puppy ("one of them alive"), a soldier cap, a writing desk, a checker board, a picture book and a sled. One present "came from Devon", a county in the south-west of England, and one came "direct from St. Nick's", meaning Santa's own sack.
Children enjoy working out the joke themselves. Read it once without the last two lines, ask how many boys there are, then read the end.
History and Origin
Carolyn Wells (1862 to 1942) was an American author who wrote many books of light verse and puzzles. This poem comes from her collection The Jingle Book, which was published in 1899 and reprinted in 1901.
Learning Activities
- Countdown with objects: line up ten toys on the floor and take one away on each couplet while a child counts out loud.
- Nickname hunt: list nicknames for the children in the room, such as short forms of their names, and see how many one person can have.
- Guess the trick: read the poem to the last couplet and ask the children to guess who has been taking the presents.
- Wrap and unwrap: wrap ten small things in paper and let each child open one at a time while the verse is read.