[Verse 1]
For them there were no presents
Around the Christmas tree
No flashing lights unless you count
The lamp across the street
A fire in a barrel
No chimney and no roof
To most of them Santa Claus
Was the man who made the soup
[Verse 2]
In an alley was a mother
Two children by her side
Trying hard to keep the spark
Of true Christmas alive
She said we may not have some things
That other people do
But Christmas is for everyone
And we're God's children too
[Chorus]
Oh and Jesus loves you
And so do I
Think about the baby
And the star up in the sky
I don't think Santa's comin'
'Cause he don't know where we live
But who needs Christmas presents
We already have the gift
[Verse 3]
Well early Christmas morning
While they were still asleep
I packed a box of food and clothes
And walked back to their street
Imagine my surprise
When I saw presents all around
Blankets, toys and winter coats
Beside them on the ground
And the card I read from Santa said
Inside the three of you
The real heart of Christmas
Is still beating strong and true
[Chorus]
Oh and Jesus loves you
And so do I
Think about the baby
And the star up in the sky
Santa Claus is comin'
'Cause he know where real faith lives
But who needs Christmas presents
We already have the gift
Who needs Christmas presents
We already have the gift
Who needs Christmas presents
We already have the gift
The Gift
Song Meaning
Ray Boltz leads "The Gift" with absence rather than celebration — "for them there were no presents around the Christmas tree, no flashing lights unless you count the lamp across the street" — and "to most of them Santa Claus was the man who made the soup" replaces a familiar figure of abundance with one of quiet, ordinary provision.
"In an alley was a mother, two children by her side, trying hard to keep the spark of true Christmas alive" keeps the family specific rather than symbolic, and her own words state the song's actual theology plainly: "Christmas is for everyone, and we're God's children too."
"Oh and Jesus loves you, and so do I, think about the baby and the star up in the sky" repeats as the chorus's whole content, refusing to let the story's hardship crowd out its actual message. "I packed a box of food and clothes and walked back to their street" turns the singer from observer to participant, and "Santa Claus is comin' 'cause he know where real faith lives" answers the earlier verse's absence directly, letting an ordinary act of giving stand in for the fictional visit the family never expected. The closing repetition, "who needs Christmas presents, we already have the gift," repeated three times, lets the song's actual claim outlast every image of scarcity that came before it.