| Lyrics: | 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.
And mamma 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 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
eye 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!
Dash away! Dash away, dash away!
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 he 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 like a
bow,
And the beard on 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 bowl full 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, as he
drove out of sight,
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to all! (8x |
