Merry Christmas! A reading and a few fun facts about "Twas The Night Before Christmas".

Welcome and Merry Christmas!

As you undoubtedly know by now, this is my favorite time of the year. I love the decorations, the lights, I love the stories. I know I mentioned my love of A Christmas story, but what you may not know is that I have a favorite Christmas poem. I love it so much in fact that this week I am dedicating a whole show to it.

Not only is it an amazing poem, but it is also one of the oldest and most popular Christmas poems ever written. The poem, originally titled, “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, now more popularly called “Twas the Night Begore Christmas” was written in the early 19th century. 

Considerable controversy surrounded the authorship for many years. It is believed that either Clement Clark Moore or Henry Livingston, Jr. were the authors. 

Clement Clarke Moore lived between 1779 and 1863. A writer and American Professor of Oriental and Greek Literature, he also taught Divinity and Biblical Learning, in New York City. He rose to prominence and eventually donated the land which would become a seminary, which continues at Chelsea Square. 

It is believed that Professor Moore wrote the poem for his children. Initially he didn’t want to publish it as he was afraid of his reputation as a scholar. As the story has it, he eventually did publish the story anonymously on Dec. 23, 1823 in the Troy Sentinel newspaper in upstate New York.

Henry Livingston Jr., although there is really no evidence he claimed authorship of the piece during his life time, is also credited with writing the piece.

Henry Livingston Jr., was a revolutionary war soldier and late became a poet. His children had claimed that the poem, “A visit from St. Nicholas”, was something they remember their father reading them a number of years earlier.

One of the descendants claimed to have had the original story, with cross outs, in the text, but that was destroyed in a house fire in Wisconsin. So, there is no way to authenticate his story.

The two men didn’t know eachtoher, although one of the Livingston relatives did marry a relative of Moore’s. There is no evidence Moore could have gotten a copy from Livingston or vice verse.

Based on the facts surrounding this strange case of who is the real author, I would argue that likely Professor Moore is the author. However, there is one other fact you may want to know. 

A fairly recent study of the grammatical structure of the piece and the writings of both men suggest that Livingston may have been the actual author.

What is also tantalizing is that in the original version of the poem, what we commonly name the reindeer, “Donner and Blitzen”, are spelled “Dunder and Blixem”. Which is Dutch. Livingston was Dutch, while Moore was not. Moore did not speak Dutch either.

So, maybe I change my vote to Livingston?

I am not going to wade farther into this controversy. But I think it is fascinating that after all these years there are still some mysteries out there which cannot be solved objectively. And isn’t that what a good story is? A mystery?

For when we pick up a book, short story, or a poem, there is a quickening of our heartbeat, a more rapid movement of our blood, a tingle on our skin as we have no idea how that story is going to end. That is what good writing does for us. It provides mystery.

As the poem ends, Happy Christmas to All, and to All a Goodnight!

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