Walker Hayes admits that re-tooling the lyrics to "Fancy Like" to be a Christmas song wasn't his idea, but he sure did jump at it. Sitting down with that same team once again reignited a passion that had started to feel job-like.

Josh Jenkins, Cameron Bartolini and Shane Stevens are Hayes' co-writers on "Fancy Like Christmas" (lyrics below), a song that started to take root late last October. His record label (Monument Records) suggested the idea on a Monday, so a writing session was scheduled for the next Thursday, but "we had it written via text message basically, before we even met," Hayes tells Taste of Country.

• "Fancy Like" is Hayes' No. 1 hit from 2021. It's been certified 6X Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
• The song went viral after a dance Hayes and his daughter created began to get noticed on social media.
• The official music video for "Fancy Like Christmas" dropped on Nov. 29.

"Once we had, 'Go Jesus, it's your birthday' we were like, 'This might be bigger than the original one,'" Hayes boasts. Watch his in-studio version of the performance here:

"Songwriting hadn't been that fun lately," Hayes tells Taste of Country Nights host Evan Paul. "I've just been on the road, so writing has been more of a task than it usually is for me."

That changed with this new version of an old song that Hayes labels his all-time favorite co-write. It was also a chance to get his family involved once again. Wife Laney and their six children appear all over his social media channels and even in music videos, so they dialed it up again for this one.

"I think we'll crank that up 30 years from now and just laugh," Hayes says.

Related: Walker Hayes' Kids Didn't Forget a Promise He Made During the Worst of Times

Fun fact about Hayes' kids: they all want to be in his videos. Anyone with teenagers might question that statement, but he says he legitimately asks them individually every time, and they know they can say "no" without becoming the family's black sheep.

Walker Hayes, "Fancy Like Christmas" Lyrics:

Christmas is back, y'all / Bells in the track, y'all / Mall Santa scaring babies in his lap, y'all / My baby's cozy / She mistletoes me / And she be slaying that Mariah Carey-okie / And all the Starbuckers in the line say / Put some peppermint mocha in my latte / Hey, hey, hey.

Chorus
Said, we fancy like Christmas 'round a fake tree / Nutcracker on the mantle and a candy cane candle / Get your eggnog with your fruit cake / Go Jesus, it's your birthday / Bougie like blowups in the front yard / Hoping Santa gonna leave an Applebee's gift card / In my stocking, even though we're getting naughty all night / That's how we do, how we do / Fancy like Christmas / Fancy like Christmas / Fancy like Christmas / Fancy like Christmas.

Got matching jammies on / We watching Home Alone / Yeah, you know Apple gonna drop another iPhone / Traffic's obnoxious, Dad's at the office / He's gotta pay for mama's Amazon boxes / And all the Starbuckers in the line say / Put some peppermint mocha in my latte / Hey, hey, hey.

Repeat Chorus

Big buck on the wall with a red nose on it / Leg lamp with some fish net hose on it / So many lights, we got the neighbors and the breakers tripping / Girl, that ugly sweater got me Grinch-grinning, like / Kids better hit the hay fast, y'all / 'Less you wanna see your mama kissing Daddy Claus.

Repeat Chorus

See the Best Country Christmas Songs Of All-Time, Ranked

This list of the top country Christmas songs was compiled by blending staff opinion, reader feedback and airplay and sales data.