During the hustle and bustle of the holidays, people seem to relate to the weary protagonist as she rushes around before Christmas and finds out there’s a force for good.

a b "Waitresses Chart History". Official Charts. Official Charts Company . Retrieved April 11, 2017. Betts, Graham (2004). Complete UK Hit Singles 1952-2004 (1sted.). London: Collins. p.829. ISBN 0-00-717931-6. Crooks, Amy (October 16, 2013). "Disney "Holidays Unwrapped" Details". Dis411 . Retrieved December 24, 2013. Written while hip hop music was beginning to gain prominence, "Christmas Wrapping" is "almost rapped" by Donahue. [5] Its title, a pun on "rapping", [8] alludes to the 1979 song " Christmas Rappin'" by Kurtis Blow. [9] Butler said he also "liked the idea of the word 'wrap,' like a wraparound, because the story is circular". [9] Lyrics [ edit ] The song has been used in films including The Tomorrow War (2021) [15] and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022). [16]Maybe that’s the universal,” he said. “People want to know maybe that it’s going to be OK. It’s all going to work out.” Christmas Wrapping - Single Miranda Cosgrove". iTunes Store. Apple. December 16, 2008 . Retrieved December 24, 2013. a b Spears, Steve (December 5, 2016). "The story behind ... 'Christmas Wrapping' by The Waitresses". Tampa Bay Times . Retrieved December 18, 2019.

Theguitarist wrote “Christmas Wrapping” in 1981 for his group, The Waitresses, featuring fellow Kent State alumPatty Donahue on lead vocals, Tracy Wormworth on bass, Dan Klayman on keyboards, Mars Williams on saxophone and Billy Ficca on drums.Butler had to write something in a hurry. He barricaded himself in his tiny apartment in the West Village and began coming up with Christmas ideas in the middle of a sweltering summer. They had to punch in a line or two through studio wizardry, but it sounded seamless and listeners never knew. New York rapper Kurtis Blow had released a song titled “Christmas Rappin’” in 1979. Butler said he “appropriated a pun” because the lyrics he crafted to “Christmas Wrapping” had an O. Henry wraparound twist.

Price, Mark J. " 'Christmas Wrapping,' an unlikely hit for The Waitresses, spreads cheer 40 years later". Akron Beacon Journal . Retrieved December 7, 2022. Christmas Wrapping” tells the big-city story of a young woman, voiced by Donahue, who is feeling worn out after a busy year and vows to sit out the holidays. “Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! But I think I’ll miss this one this year,” she sings. Butler said “Christmas Wrapping” has blindsided him many times. He might be in a grumpy mood, doing last-minute shopping, driving from store to store, when a familiar tune blasts out of his car radio: Long after the holiday season, fans demanded that The Waitresses play the song live, so the group did so until disbanding in 1984.

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Unable to connect with a guy she likes amid a series of misfortunes, the narrator changes her tune after bumping into the man in a grocery store and bonding over cranberries: “Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Couldn’t miss this one this year!” In 1981, ZE Records asked each of its artists to record a Christmas song for a compilation album, A Christmas Record. The Waitresses were in the middle of a difficult tour and the Christmas song commission was "the last thing we wanted", Butler said later. [3] [4] With so many words in “Christmas Wrapping,” he joked that it’s more of a master’s thesis than a song.