A Visit from St. Nicholas

The poem introduces eight reindeer now usually called Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen. Rudolph is absent because Robert L. May created him for Montgomery Ward more than a century later, in 1939.

It strongly shaped that image by describing St. Nicholas as a cheerful, plump visitor who arrives in a miniature sleigh pulled by eight reindeer. Later artists such as Thomas Nast expanded the visual tradition during the 19th century.

The poem is traditionally attributed to Clement Clarke Moore, who later included it in an 1844 collection. Some scholars and descendants have argued that Henry Livingston Jr. wrote it, so the authorship remains disputed.

The poem was published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel newspaper in New York on December 23, 1823. Its opening line made the alternative title 'Twas the Night Before Christmas more familiar to many readers than the original title.