Merle Haggard's Christmas Present is a Christmas album by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 country

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 singer Merle Haggard

Merle Haggard

Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

, released in 1973. The single, "If We Make It Through December

If We Make It Through December

"If We Make It Through December" is the title of a song written and recorded by American country music singer Merle Haggard. It was released in October 1973 as the lead single from album, of the same name. The song was included on Haggard's Christmas album released that year...

" spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

 chart in December 1973 and January 1974, and cracked the Top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

. "If We Make It Through December" was the No. 2 song of the year on Billboard's Hot Country Singles 1974 year-end chart. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/yearend_chart_display.jsp?f=Hot+Country+Songs&g=Year-end+Singles&year=1974

Track listing

All songs by Merle Haggard unless otherwise noted.

1. "If We Make It Through December
   If We Make It Through December
   "If We Make It Through December" is the title of a song written and recorded by American country music singer Merle Haggard. It was released in October 1973 as the lead single from album, of the same name. The song was included on Haggard's Christmas album released that year...
   
   " – 2:42
2. "Santa Claus and Popcorn" – 2:13
3. "Bobby Wants a Puppy Dog for Christmas" – 2:13
4. "Daddy Won't Be Home Again for Christmas" – 3:04
5. "Grandma's Homemade Christmas Card" – 1:50
6. "White Christmas
   White Christmas (song)
   "White Christmas" is an Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the version sung by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single of all time, with estimated sales in excess of 50 million copies worldwide.Accounts vary as...
   
   " (Irving Berlin
   Irving Berlin
   Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
   
   ) – 2:28
7. "Silver Bells" (Jay Livingston
   Jay Livingston
   Jay Livingston was an American composer and singer best known as half of a songwriting duo with Ray Evans that specialized in songs composed for films. Livingston wrote the music and Evans the lyrics....
   
   , Ray Evans
   Ray Evans
   Raymond Bernard Evans was an American songwriter. He was a partner in a composing and songwriting duo with Jay Livingston, known for the songs they composed for films...
   
   ) – 3:20
8. "Winter Wonderland
   Winter Wonderland
   "Winter Wonderland" is a winter song, popularly treated as a Christmastime pop standard, written in 1934 by Felix Bernard and Richard B. Smith . Through the decades it has been recorded by over 150 different artists.-History:...
   
   " (Felix Bernard, Richard B. Smith) – 2:31
9. "Silent Night
   Silent Night
   "Silent Night" is a popular Christmas carol. The original lyrics of the song "Stille Nacht" were written in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria, by the priest Father Joseph Mohr and the melody was composed by the Austrian headmaster Franz Xaver Gruber...
   
   " (Josef Mohr
   Josef Mohr
   Joseph Mohr, sometimes spelt Josef was an Austrian Roman Catholic priest and composer, who wrote the words to the Christmas carol "Silent Night".-Biography:...
   
   , Franz Xaver Gruber) – 2:29
10. "Jingle Bells
    Jingle Bells
    "Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and commonly sung winter songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont and published under the title "One Horse Open Sleigh" in the autumn of 1857...
    
    " (James Lord Pierpont
    James Pierpont (musician)
    James Lord Pierpont was an American songwriter, arranger, organist, and composer, best known for writing and composing Jingle Bells in 1857, originally entitled "The One Horse Open Sleigh". He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and died in Winter Haven, Florida...
    
    ) – 2:21

Personnel

• Merle Haggard – vocals, guitar
• Roy Nichols
  Roy Nichols
  Roy Nichols was an American country music guitarist best known as the lead guitarist for Merle Haggard for more than two decades. He was known for his guitar technique, a mix of fingerpicking and pedal steel-like bends, usually played on a Telecaster.-Biography:Roy Ernest Nichols was born in...
  
   – guitar, harmonica
• Red Lane – guitar
• Bobby Wayne – guitar
• Dave Kirby – guitar
• Marcy Nichols – guitar
• Ray Edenton – guitar
• Jerry Shooks– guitar
• Jimmy Capps – guitar
• Norman Hamlet
  Norm Hamlet
  Norm Hamlet is an American steel guitarist best known as a member of Merle Haggard's Stranger's group. In 2005 Hamlet had quadruple heart bypass surgery and recovered well at his home in Bakersfield, California. In April 2006 while on tour with Merle Haggard Hamlet's Dobro was stolen and a reward...
  
   – pedal steel guitar, dobro
• Dennis Hromek – bass
• Joe Zinkan – bass
• Ronnie Reno – bass
• Henry Strzelecki – bass
• Biff Adam – drums
• William Harris – drums
• Johnny Gimble
  Johnny Gimble
  John Paul Gimble , better known as Johnny Gimble, is an American country musician associated with Western swing. He is an award-winning fiddle player and considered one of the most impressive fiddlers in the genre's history....
  
   – fiddle
• Hargus "Pig" Robbins – piano, organ
• Jerry Whitehurst – piano
• Mark Yeary – piano
• Farrell Morris – percussion
• Bill Puett – horns

Chart positions

Year	Chart	Position
1973	Billboard Pop albums	4