‘TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

‘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;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap–

When out on the lawn there rose 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 a lustre of mid-day to objects below;
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny rein-deer,

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! Dunder 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 that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So, up to the house-top 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 and 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 month 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, ere he drove out of sight,
“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

And to all a good night!

–

DailyLit is the leading publisher of serialized books in digital form. Selected to be the #1 Book Website by the Sunday Times, DailyLit has sent over 35 million book installments. DailyLit’s books and series are all free and feature bestselling and award-winning titles. Installments can be read in fewer than 5 minutes and can be read wherever you receive email, including on any computer, Blackberry, or iPhone.

Tom Peters’ The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence (you can send daily tips to your lazy boyfriend or son-in-law)
Poems by Emily Dickinson (imagine wooing your loved one with daily poems throughout the year)
Berlitz Essential French Phrases (s’il vous plait!)
The Bible (need I say more!)
Brad Meltzer’s Heroes for My Son (a little inbox inspiration)
Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother (for the sci-fi lover)
A Collection of Beatrix Potter Stories or other children’s books (which niece wouldn’t want to find a daily email for her in her mommy’s inbox with a note from you)

–

DailyLit is the leading publisher of serialized books in digital form. Selected to be the #1 Book Website by the Sunday Times, DailyLit has sent over 35 million book installments. DailyLit’s books and series are all free and feature bestselling and award-winning titles. Installments can be read in fewer than 5 minutes and can be read wherever you receive email, including on any computer, Blackberry, or iPhone.

The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry (2 parts)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (225 parts)
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (36 parts)
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore (1 part)

Cheers, to a little merry in your inbox!

–

DailyLit is the leading publisher of serialized books in digital form. Selected to be the #1 Book Website by the Sunday Times, DailyLit has sent over 35 million book installments. DailyLit’s books and series are all free and feature bestselling and award-winning titles. Installments can be read in fewer than 5 minutes and can be read wherever you receive email, including on any computer, Blackberry, or iPhone.

See you on Tuesday! Until then, enjoy the 4th of July–barbecues, sunshine, fireworks, parades, and more.

As for what Joyce would have thought of all this, I love this quote from James Quin of the Joyce Center in Dublin. I hope it inspires you to celebrate!

“If you look back to 1954, Bloomsday was seen to be the preserve of a group of loons and drinkers, people like Patrick Kavanagh and Flann O’Brien, who weren’t considered very respectable people in Ireland by any standard of that time. Joyce fitted perfectly with them, and they fitted perfectly with Joyce…. Joyce would have loved it. Bloomsday isn’t high-falutin’, it isn’t academic, it isn’t reserved for a certain class of person. Ulysses is about ordinary people, ordinary lives, ordinary days. But those ordinary days make up lives that are lived, and lived through storytelling in the ways we create our own stories around us all the time.”–James Quin of the James Joyce Centre, Dublin, Ireland, in the National Post

Which character’s path from which book would you like to retrace?

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Each day in April you’ll receive a great poem from a contemporary writer–and it’s all for free. No foolin’. Get started here.

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Sláinte! (Cheers!)

Which author would you most like to hear read his or her work?

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