circa 1870 (public domain)

On December 23, 1823, a poem titled “Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas” was published anonymously in the Sentinel newspaper in Troy, New York. The poem is better known by its first five words: “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.”

I remember my dad reading the poem on Christmas Eve, but I’m fuzzy about all the details. I attempted to find a photo online of the edition of the illustrated book that we had in our house, but there are many, many editions and I’m not confident that I would recognize it when I saw it. I know that I had the poem memorized at one point in my life, but I’m not sure when or why.

The White House honored the 200th anniversary of this poem in the 2023 White House decorations. In the Ground Floor Corridor, display cases house a variety of editions of the poem. The books were provided by the Library of Congress. If you look out The Library windows, you’ll see Santa and his sleigh, pulled by reindeer.

The 2023 White House Gingerbread House is backed by a sugar cookie book sporting the famous last line of the poem, “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

Santa’s sleigh and reindeer fly over the Grand Foyer and the architectural niches are filled with recreations of the story in the poem.

Clement Clark Moore eventually claimed authorship of the poem. According to an article by the Episcopal News Service, he was a lifelong Episcopalian. He donated the land where their General Theological Seminary was built and later became a professor at that institution. General Theological Seminary honored that connection by producing a short film, Mr. Moore’s Gift. It will be available to view online tomorrow. Watching that film will be part of my Night Before Christmas observations.

I’m sharing this post on the Comfy Cozy Christmas link party. Erin at Cracker Crumb Life and Lisa at Boondock Ramblings host this event.