Twas the Night Before Christmas: A Visit from St. Nicholas

The poem that invented Christmas as we know it. Before Moore's verses entered the world, Santa Claus was a Dutch bishop, and Christmas itself was a rowdy colonial holiday more likely to involve hard cider than gift-giving. Then, on a winter night in 1823, someone put quill to paper and created the blueprint for the modern holiday: the eight reindeer, the silent entrance, the stockings hung by the chimney with care. This is the poem that taught an entire culture what Christmas should feel like. The story unfolds on a quiet Christmas Eve, when a family has settled for the night. The narrator hears a commotion outside, rushes to the window, and witnesses St. Nicholas arrive in a sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer. With a twinkle in his eye and a right jolly old elf, he fills the stockings and departs with the now-immortal wish: Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night. The poem endures because it gave us the language of Christmas itself, and because reading it together on Christmas Eve has become as essential as the tree or the turkey.