Twas the Night before Christmas: A Visit from St. Nicholas

by Clement Clarke Moore

"'Twas the Night before Christmas: A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement Clarke Moore is a poem first published anonymously in 1823. On Christmas Eve, a father witnesses a magical visitor arrive by sleigh and reindeer, bounding down the chimney to deliver presents and fill stockings. This beloved work transformed American ideas about Santa Claus and Christmas gift-giving, though its authorship sparked controversy between Moore and Henry Livingston Jr. The poem has been called "arguably the best-known verses ever written by an American."