The beginning of the Christmas carol “The First Noel” is:

“The First Noel the angel did say
Was to certain poor shepherds
in fields as they lay.

Mad magazine made a Christmas parody of these lyrics in 1974:

“On the first Noel, the angels did say--you’ll be paying your bills from now until May.”


Wikipedia: The First Noel
“The First Noel” (also written “The First Noël” and “The First Nowell”) is a traditional classical English Christmas carol, most likely from the early modern period, although possibly earlier. Noel is an Early Modern English synonym of “Christmas”.

In its current form, it is of Cornish origin, and it was first published in Carols Ancient and Modern (1823) and Gilbert and Sandys Carols (1833), both of which were edited by William Sandys and arranged, edited and with extra lyrics written by Davies Gilbert for Hymns and Carols of God. Today, it is usually performed in a four-part hymn arrangement by the English composer John Stainer, first published in his Carols, New and Old in 1871.

Google Groups: alt.quotations
Humorous X-Mas Quotations
The Sanity Inspector
12/5/98
(Word Plays) shared with usenet this thought:
>I’d love to add to this collection ... Does anyone have a quote to contribute?

The first Noel, the angels did say,
You’ll be paying your bills from now til next May.
-- MAD magazine

Quoteland.com
Zendam
posted 12-26-08 02:09 AM Hide Post
Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.~Oscar Wilde

The first Noel
The angels did say
You’ll be paying your bills
From now until May
~MAD magazine

Twitter
Colin Feeney
‏@ColinfromSTL
On the first Noel, the angels did say--you’ll be paying your bills from now until May.  *lol* Merry Christmas one and all! 
12:02 AM - 25 Dec 2012

Twitter
Colin Feeney
‏@ColinfromSTL
From @MADmagazine in 1974: On the first Noel, the angels did say--you’ll be paying your bills from now until May.
Merry Christmas all!
1:50 PM - 25 Dec 2015