“Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse…”

Blah, blah. Blah, blah. Boring, super boring. Everybody knows the 1823 Moore version, but who knows the 1963 Morris version??

My daddy always loved poetry and music so when he gave me these words at Christmas my senior year in high school, I wasn’t surprised. I don’t remember if he mentioned they were part of the lyrics from a song called A Letter from Santa written by Mickey Maguire (more remembered for Christmas classic I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus). I do remember I laughed out loud. I probably also couldn’t believe my dad had actually written the word “ass” in something he gave me – my parents refused to use what they considered to be vulgar language; I’m sure “ass” was a hard no. Maybe this rite of passage made it funnier to me.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

**********************

For the grown-ups.