*First line is the duo name. 1970. Brother and sister duo. The lyrics were written in 1946 by 20-year-old Frank Pooler.. Twenty years later in 1966, when he was choral director at California State University, Long Beach, two of his aspiring music students, a brother and sister, asked him if he had any ideas for holiday songs. Pooler gave them the lyrics of the song he had written from years before, and told them he did not think much of the original melody. The brother wrote a new tune for the lyrics in 15 minutes.