"Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" is a novelty Christmas song.Written by Randy Brooks, the song was originally performed by the husband-and-wife duo of Elmo and Patsy Trigg Shropshire in 1979. In the lyrics, a family matriarch gets drunk from drinking too much eggnog and, having forgotten to take her medication and despite warnings from her family, staggers outside into a snowstorm. On her walk, she is trampled and killed by Santa Claus and his reindeer. The second and third verses describe the next day's Christmas gathering: "all the family's dressed in black" while the widower acts as if nothing's happened, drinks beer, watches football and plays "cards with cousin Mel". The song closes with a warning that Santa, "a man who drives a sleigh and plays with elves", is unfit to carry a dr