'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house   Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse   The stockings were hung by the chimney with care   In the 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 mom in her kerchief and I in my cap   Had just settled down for a long winter's nap      When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter   I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter   Away to the window I flew with a flash   Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash      The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow   Gave a luster of midday to objects below   And what to my wondering eyes should appear?   But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer      With a little old driver so lively and quick   Well, I knew in a moment, it must be St. Nick   More rapid than eagles, his coursers they came   And he whistled and he shouted and he called them by name      "On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer and Vixen   On Comet, on Cupid, on Donner 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 before the wild hurricane fly   When they meet with an obstacle mount to the sky   So up to the rooftop the coursers they flew   With a sleigh full of toys and St. Nicholas too      And then in a twinkling, I heard on the roof   The prancing, the 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 peddler 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 in a bow   And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow      And 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, ho, ho, ho, ho   Like a bowl full of jelly, ho, ho, ho, ho      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   Filled all the stockings and turned with a jerk   And laying a finger to the side of his nose   And giving a nod up the chimney he rose      He sprang to his sleigh, and to his team gave a whistle   And away they all flew like the down of a thistle   But I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight   "Merry Christmas to all and to all, goodnight, goodnight"