These 3.5 inch wooden holiday ornaments show a light brown mouse tucked into bed in a small box.
Beside the holiday ornament bed, there is an arched window outlined with rust-colored bricks. There is a gold outlined cream-colored banner on the side of the box with the “Twas the Night Before Christmas” line “Not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.” The wall behind the sleeping mouse is light tan stone and above the window, there is a yellow star with a brown spiral in the center and leaves on either side. There is a wedge of cheese on top of the green blanket and another on the burnt sienna floor. The holiday ornament mouse is wearing a red and white striped stocking cap with a white cuff and a gold tassel. The adorable mouse Christmas tree ornament will hang from a gold lame cord.
“Twas the Night Before Christmas” Holiday Poem History:
Clement Clarke Moore, a professor of Greek and Oriental Literature at the Episcopal General Theological Seminary in New York City, wrote “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” also called “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” for his son Robert in 1822. Robert liked to ride his pony, Lightening, in the woods and one day, he and his pony took a spill.
Since his pony had broken 2 legs, they shot it. Robert loved his pony so much, so he did not try to get well, and each day he called pitifully for Lightening. His father had been working on a dictionary before the accident and thought if only he could write a Christmas story that would interest his son. He had written many books for college students, but never a children’s book. He finished writing “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” on Christmas eve. As he started to read, a few lines at a time, Robert responded with a tiny smile and by the time he was through reading the Christmas poem, he said, “Read it again.” Again his father read the story of a visit from St. Nicholas. This time when Moore finished reading the holiday poem, Robert asked if their tree was up. When his father said it was, Robert asked to see it.
Moore’s holiday poem is now a classic American Christmas story. Despite the reason he wrote it, Moore was a private person and was embarrassed by the popularity of his Christmas poem. The Sentinel, the Troy, New York newspaper, published “Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas” in 1823, but Moore did not acknowledge writing the Christmas story until 1837 when he published the holiday poem in a book under his name. In 1863, the cartoonist Thomas Nast created images of the Christmas story. We associate these images with the Christmas story even today.
Clemet C. Moore spoke modestly of his Christmas poem but it is a special present to us all.