Country music has plenty of tinsel-covered holiday tunes, but nobody cuts through the fakery like Merle Haggard. His 1973 classic “If We Make It Through December” isn’t just a Christmas song — it’s a working-man’s prayer whispered through chapped lips and factory gates.
Haggard sings from the gut, opening with that now-iconic line: “If we make it through December, everything’s gonna be all right, I know.” It’s not hope served on a Hallmark card — it’s the kind of hope you cling to when the pink slip lands right before Christmas and you still want to make the holiday magical for your little girl.
The song follows a laid-off father trying to keep it together while the whole world around him freezes over. The snow falls, the bills stack up, and December feels more like an enemy than a month. Yet Merle carries that quiet toughness only real country artists know: a promise to pack up, push through, and maybe make it to a warmer place — in the weather and in life.
And that’s why this song hits harder today than ever. It’s humble, it’s honest, and it cuts straight to the heart of what millions of Americans still feel every winter: that grit-filled determination to get the family through tough times with nothing but faith and elbow grease.
In a world full of glittery Christmas pop, Haggard’s classic still stands tall — a reminder that the most powerful holiday songs aren’t about snowmen or sleigh bells, but about surviving the cold and protecting the ones you love.
If we make it through December, we’ll be fine. Merle believed that. And every December, so do we.
