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Let me delight you with insights about the most famous Christmas poem ever “Twas the Night Before Christmas” By Clement C Moore 1823. It is not only magical but it transformed the world as we know it!

Let us start with the history of this famous poem. While known mostly today as “The Night Before Christmas” or “Twas the Night Before Christmas” which was taken from its first line, it was in fact originally called “A Visit from St. Nicholas”.

It was first published in 1823 in the USA and yes that is a long time ago now.   Yet this poem is so is incredibly important for you to know that it laid the contemporary American conception and vision of our beloved Santa Claus that has also been adopted in other countries. It redefined the image of Christmas as American’s previously knew it. They adopted the poems description of Santa and his reindeer as the one that they would embrace.

Prior to this poem St Nicholas, who was of course known as the patron saint of children, synonymous with Christmas, had never been associated with a sleigh or reindeers! So this poem was the catalyst for a whole new way of celebrating and rekindling Christmas each year in an incredibly magical and enchanting way!

It is believed that a family friend, Miss H. Butler, sent a copy of the poem to the New York Sentinel newspaper who first published the poem in on 23rd December 1823. It was published under the condition that the author was to remain anonymous. It was an instant success as people young and old loved it!

It was reprinted frequently from thereon with no name attached and it was not until 1837 that Clement Clarke Moore was declared as the author by a newspaper. Yet Moore himself did not claim the poem as his until 1844 when it was included in a book of his poetry. Some say that he was persuaded by his children to claim the poem. More was not too keen because he wanted to be known for more shall we say, scholarly works. However, there is a little controversy as some believe that he may not have authored it and a member of his extended family may have. However this has never been proven to this day! What we do know is that Moore wrote much darker poems prior to this one.

Here is some fascinating trivia:

-  Clement Clarke Moore actually came from a very prominent family. Benjamin Moore, his father, was the Bishop of New York who was of course famous for officiating at the inauguration of George Washington.

- In An American Anthology, 1787-1900, writer Edmund Clarence Stedman reprinted the original Dutch version of the poem but included German spelling of two of our reindeer. Originally Moore wrote Dunder yet Stedman wrote Donder. Originally Moore also wrote Blixem yet Stedman wrote Blitzen. None the less both names still basically translate to thunder and lightning! Yes, Dunder was said to sound like thunder as he rode on his way and Blitzen was as fast as lightning!

- There have been a number of adaptations of this poem including parodies. Most of the parodies that can be found on the Internet are intended to be humorous, or satirical. There really are some funny Youtube videos that have been made that will give you a giggle. Just Google the poem’s name and a variety will be available to you at the click of your mouse!  Did you know that even the Muppets and Garfield comic strips have adopted this poem in comedy skits. Yet I have to tell you that one of my all time favorites is Tim Burton’s 1993 parody of the poems title which is really a non stop action film called The Nightmare Before Christmas and it really is sensational!

- Today there are four hand-written copies of the poem still known to exist. Three are in museums and one that was written by Clement Clarke Moore and signed as a gift to one of his friends in 1860 was sold by a collector in 2006 for $280,000 USD to another collector who remains unnamed yet we do know he was Chief Executive Director of a media company that resides in Manhattan.

-  The final line of the original poem was “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night,” yet in America and other English speaking countries they have changed “Happy Christmas” in this final line to “Merry Christmas” because it is the more common greeting that was later adopted! Today people have taken it even further and changed it to “Happy Holidays to all and to all a good night”.

Christmas is a beautiful word that no one should be offended by. “Christ” is a symbol of the love within us all and “mass” is a celebration. So “Christmas” is a symbol of the celebration of love. So let us embrace each other, our differences and our beautiful traditions and greetings. After all at the end of the day it is a greeting of good will and let us not forget this.

It is wonderful that in the modern world, it is now a tradition in many American homes to read this poem every Christmas Eve. In fact the tradition of reading Twas the night before Christmas poem on Christmas Eve is now a worldwide institution. It is magical and a tradition we highly recommend you embrace this coming year!

And the author Bernadette Dimitrov invites you to visit her radio podcast show “Conversations with Mrs Claus” http://www.TheFamilyYak.com   An inspirational show with fascinating guests world-wide with prizes to be won! Also come visit http://www.HoHoHoChristmas.com  and join her free inspirational Christmas newsletter with great recipes, insights & gift ideas & receive inspirational free gifts including her free 10 day e-course with audio “Amazing Ways to Enrich Your Christmas Experience!”

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