Every year I think about coming back   Seems like so much more   Time goes by than that   Hard to believe it's all real time      I'm sorry I can't be there with everyone on Christmas   To help bring in wood for the fire   And carry a stack of warm plates   To the table where the goose is served      I got in damned trouble again   It's like every year I get in trouble at Christmas time   Is to where I expect in the rain and the darkness of November   Leaves me feeling lost and hopeless      So I went to a bar by myself to try and forget   That I had nothing and no one   And I got into a fight with a big loud jock   He left me counting stars on the floor      Every damn year is the same   I say I'll come home   Once I got a little more to show for myself   Than just getting in trouble      We were counting stars on the ski slopes   Wearing all our clothes up against winter's snap   Scampering up hell to steal a run   On the Mohawk toboggan      And later on we watched the hockey game   With beer and cigarettes   And finally we lay down to sleep   In the small beds of our childhood      Counting stars with the wavy glass   Of the old storm windows   On the big, long, crazy   Mohawk toboggan