I think Barbara Dickson's version gains enormoyusly by here choosing to sing "midwinter" with a short second syllable, the same way the word is pronounced when it is spoken, rather than stretching it out the way it is generally done in when this is sung.

The hymn books I'm familiar with( Catholic ones) fortunately always seem to have the verse Claire Bear mention. Strange how censorship creeps in.

Another carol verse that we always sing, which seems, for some reason, to have been removed from some hymn books, is from Oh Little Town of Bethlehem:

Where children pure and happy
Pray to the blessed Child,
Where misery cries out to thee,
Son of the mother mild;
Where charity stands watching
And faith holds wide the door
The dark night wakes, the glory breaks,
And Christmas comes once more.