A Visit from St. Nicholas By Clement Clarke Moore A Visit from St. Nicholas (2 versions) '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,
" A Visit from St. Nicholas " (often called " The Night Before Christmas " and " 'Twas the Night Before Christmas ", from its first line) is a poem, first published anonymously under the title " Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas ", in 1823.
The poem ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas,’ also known as ‘ ’Twas the Night Before Christmas,’ was first published in a New York newspaper in 1823. It helped to establish Santa Claus as the joyful, plump, toy-bearing figure widely known today, and its naming of his reindeer has persisted as well.
Within this poem, the speaker relishes the sights he saw and takes great joy from his knowledge of St. Nicholas. The text itself focuses on the story of St. Nicholas, more commonly known as Santa Claus, and a visit he paid to the speaker’s home.
Versions of A Visit from St. Nicholas include: "A Vision of St. Nicholas" in The Strand Magazine, 2 (12) (1891). This work was published before , and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
In 2016, Auckland University Emeritus Professor MacDonald P. Jackson published his multi-year research into the authorship of the famous Christmas poem, "Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas," or as we know it, "The Night Before Christmas."