A Visit from St. Nicholas

An 1823 poem by Clement Clarke Moore about a visit from St. Nick. Originally titled "A Visit from St. Nicholas" and also known as "The Night Before Christmas" and " '​Twas the Night Before Christmas".

Here it is as read by none other than the trumpet master Louis Armstrong, himself.


 * Adaptation Distillation: The poem crystallizes a number of ideas about St. Nicholas first found in Washington Irving's Knickerbocker History of New York.
 * Anonymous Author: The poem was fist published anonymously.
 * Beam Me Up, Scotty:
 * "On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donner and Blitzen!" Only it isn't--the original poem retained the Dutch names Donder and Blixen, as was suitable to the old Dutch settlers of New York who introduced Sinterklaas Santa Claus to America. Later re-printings Ret Conned the names into their more familiar German forms.
 * The phrase " Merry Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"
 * Trope Codifier: As stated above, this little poem etched in stone a lot of the core image we have of Santa Claus.