Cat No. JM50498
Price £49.00
Composer: Julien Roh
Category: Christmas Music

According to a poem by Clement Clarke Moore.

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(A Visit from Saint Nicholas) by Clement Clarke Moore

‘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 core,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled oil 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 down for a long winte?s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the mailer.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore apen the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
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, Dasherl now, Dancerl now, Prancer and Vixen !
On, Comet ! on Cupid ! on, Donder and Blitzen !
To the top of the porch ! to the top of the walll
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 caursers they flew,
With the 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 hand, 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 scat;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he lacked 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 mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of 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 raund belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful 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 ward, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nase,
And gi\4ng a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang ta 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,
‘Happy Christmas ta all, and to all a good-night.’