"'Twas the night before Christmas
when all through the house . . . "
I imagine you can finish the rest of the stanza, if not several more. I memorized it for extra credit in my 8th grade English class, practicing by singing most of the beginning to "Chopsticks," the piano ditty.
We have two or three illustrated versions of this iconic poem at home right now (plus the Cajun version!). And I've read each of them several times, sometimes several times a day, during the last week. Today, they dramatized the poem in their own way, asking me to fall asleep while Santa Sis (she might be scared of him in person because he is a "big guy" and hairy, but she knows who the power player is) and her helper elf Bud pretended to eat the cookies I had left, to stuff my stocking, and to leave presents, and then to wake me up with "Merry Christmas" to start the celebration. I would ooh and ahh over my gifts and eat the candy in my stocking, to much acclaim and exclamation, then be told to go back to sleep to start all over again, ending with a "Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!" Later versions of the game, played also with our babysitter, and then with me and the babysitter, and later even still with Mama and me, had Santa wearing a kleenex taped to her nose to form a mustache and beard (babysitter's cute touch), Santa and the elf making the hoofbeat sounds of the reindeer on the roof, Santa presenting the helper elf with presents such as an elf hat and a drum, and Santa and the elf taking us on rides on the sleigh to visit their house in the North Pole. For fun, I would throw in quotes from the poem (as I'd fall asleep, I'd note the "visions of sugarplums", then I would hear the "prancing and pawing of each little hoof," and when we woke up there would always be "new-fallen snow."), which would make them laugh.
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night. . . .
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