Author: Clement Clarke Moore / Year: 1779-1863 / Genre: Chldren, Christmas A Christmas poem first published by Clement C. Moore anonymously in 1823. The original title was A Visit from St. Nicholas, but the book is
better known as Twas the Night Before Christmas from its first line. The poem, sometimes called the best known verses ever written by an
American, is responsible for some of the conceptions of Santa Claus from the mid-nineteenth century to today.
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.
