Dear Annie: Happy Holidays to All

Dear Readers: Wishing you and all a very happy holiday season. Please enjoy the following poem.

“A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement Clarke Moore.

“‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house / Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; / The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, / In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; / The children were nestled all snug in their beds, / While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads; / And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap, / Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap, / When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, / I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter. / Away to the window I flew like a flash, / Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash. / The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow / Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below, / When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, / But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer, / With a little old driver, so lively and quick, / I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick. / More rapid than eagles his coursers they came, / And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name; / ‘Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen! / On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen! / To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall! / Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!’ / As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, / When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky; / So up to the house-top the coursers they flew, / With the sleigh full of Toys, and St. Nicholas too. / And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof / The prancing and pawing of each little hoof. / As I drew in my head, and was turning around, / Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound. / He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot, / And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot; / A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back, / And he looked like a pedler just opening his pack. / His eyes — how they twinkled! his dimples how merry! / His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry! / His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow / And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow; / The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, / And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath; / He had a broad face and a little round belly, / That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly. / He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, / And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself; / A wink of his eye and a twist of his head, / Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread; / He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, / And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk, / And laying his finger aside of his nose, / And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose; / He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, / And away they all flew like the down of a thistle, / But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight, / ‘Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.’”

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