Christmas, 2022

Today is Christmas when we celebrate the joy of Christ’s birth.

Historians argue as to whether this poem is the first depiction of Santa Clause as opposed to Saint Nicholas. It is from the book The Children’s Friend, Number III: A New-Year’s Present to the Little Ones from Five to Twelve, published in 1821.

---

Old Santaclaus with much delight,
His reindeer drives this frosty night,
O’er chimney tops and tracks of frosty snow,
To bring his yearly gifts to you.

The steady friend of virtuous youth,
The friend of duty and truth,
Each Christmas Eve he joys to come,
Where love and peace have made their home.

Through many houses he has been,
And various beds and stockings seen,
Some white as snow and neatly mended,
Others, that seemed for pigs intended.

To some I gave a pretty doll,
To some a peg-top or a ball,
No crackers, cannons, squibs or rockets,
To blow their eyes up or their pockets.

When I e’ver found good girls or boys,
That hated quarrels, strife or noise,
I left an apple or a tart,
Or wooden gun or a cart.

No drums to stun their mother’s ear,
Nor swords to make their sisters fear,
But pretty books to store their mind,
With knowledge of various kind.

But where I found the children naughty,
In manners crude and tempers haughty,
Thankless to parents; liars, swearers,
Buxers, or cheats, or base tale-bearers,

I left a long black birchen rod,
Such, as the dread command of Gon,
Directs a Parent’s hand to use,
When virtue’s path his sons refuse.

---

More information on Santa Clause here.
More information on Christmas here.

Merry Christmas!