Songfacts®:

• When the Jackson 5 made a Christmas album in 1970, an obvious selection was "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," which is sung from the perspective of a little kid who can't sleep on Christmas Eve, sneaks downstairs to get a look at the tree, and spots his mother kissing jolly old St. Nick. You'd think he's be horrified, but he gets a kick out of it even though he can't figure out that Santa is really dad.
  
  The song was originally recorded in 1952, sung by 13-year-old Jimmy Boyd, who sounds like a little kid singing at a Christmas pageant. The Jackson 5 version has a lead vocal from Michael Jackson, who was 12 years old and could really sing. The original version was a big hit, but it's a novelty that you wouldn't want to hear more than once a season; the Jackson 5 version stands up to repeated listening and quickly became the most popular version of the song.
• There's a twist at the end of the song that isn't in the original: Michael's brothers in the Jackson 5 don't believe him, no matter how much he pleads ("I did! I did see mommy kissing Santa Claus. You've got to believe me!"). He joins a long list of little kids who spot Santa but can't prove it.
• The Jackson 5 were incredibly popular in 1970 when they released this song. They had an astounding four #1 hits that year, starting with "I Want You Back." It wasn't had for their label, Motown Records, to put together Christmas album for the group, which they did for many of their artists (Motown had in-house musicians and producers and were very efficient). The album is filled with holiday favorites like "Frosty The Snowman" and "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town."
• The Jackson 5 version of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" wasn't released as a single in America but got added to a lot of playlists each holiday season. In the streaming era it really picked up steam, as did a lot of older Christmas songs (particularly Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree"). In 2019 a video was released for the song, and in the 2023 holiday season the song charted for the first time, reaching #43 on the chart dated January 6, 2024.