‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
And mamma in her ’kerchief, and I in my cap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
“Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
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