In an old city bar 
That is never too far 
From the places that gather 
The dreams that have been 
In the safety of night 
With its old neon light 
It beckons to strangers 
And they always come in 
And the snow it was falling 
The neon was calling 
The music was low 
And the night 
Christmas Eve 
And here was the danger 
That even with strangers 
Inside of this night 
It's easier to believe 
Then the door opened wide 
And a child came inside 
That no one in the bar 
Had seen there before 
And he asked did we know 
That outside in the snow 
That someone was lost 
Standing outside our door 
Then the bartender gazed 
Through the smoke and the haze 
Through the window and ice 
To a corner streetlight 
Where standing alone 
By a broken pay phone 
Was a girl the child said 
Could no longer get home 
And the snow it was falling 
The neon was calling 
The bartender turned 
And said, not that I care 
But how would you know this? 
The child said I've noticed 
If one could be home 
They'd be all ready there 
Then the bartender came out from behind the bar 
And in all of his life he was never that far 
And he did something else that he thought no one saw 
When he took all the cash from the register draw 
Then he followed the child to the girl cross the street 
And we watched from the bar as they started to speak 
Then he called for a cab and he said J.F.K. 
Put the girl in the cab and the cab drove away 
And we saw in his hand 
That the cash was all gone 
From the light that she had wished upon 
If you want to arrange it 
This world you can change it 
If we could somehow make this 
Christmas thing last 
By helping a neighbor 
Or even a stranger 
And to know who needs help 
You need only just ask 
Then he looked for the child 
But the child wasn't there 
Just the wind and the snow 
Waltzing dreams through the air 
So he walked back inside 
Somehow different I think 
For the rest of the night 
No one paid for a drink 
And the cynics will say 
That some neighborhood kid 
Wandered in on some bums 
In the world where they hid 
But they weren't there 
So they couldn't see 
By an old neon star 
On that night, Christmas Eve 
When the snow it was falling 
The neon was calling 
And in case you should wonder 
In case you should care 
Why we're on our own 
Never went home 
On that night of all nights 
We were already there 
THEN ALL AT ONCE INSIDE THAT NIGHT 
HE SAW IT ALL SO CLEAR 
THE ANSWER THAT HE SOUGHT SO LONG 
HAD ALWAYS BEEN SO NEAR 
IT'S EVERY GIFT THAT SOMEONE GIVES 
EXPECTING NOTHING BACK 
IT'S EVERY KINDNESS THAT WE DO 
EACH SIMPLE LITTLE ACT