What do You think about The Night Before Christmas (1998)?
I found this book for free on Amazon and thought it was really interesting that this book had the part of smoking edited, by Santa Claus himself, out of the story. That was one of the things that always got me thinking when I was younger about the original - my parents smoked for awhile, my sister does now, but I never have and always thought it was disgusting that he did. This is one of my favorite Christmas stories - beautifully done with some amazing illustrations. Definitely a must for people who love Christmas books, especially this story, and so worth what the author is selling it for.
—Miss Meghan's Class
IT IS CHRISTMAS EVE!i'm not sure if this is the correct edition to review. the one i have is also illustrated by arthur rackham ♥, but it has this cover: which is much better than the one shown above. i'm not sure how to review this, because it's just the night before christmas, but since i feel compelled to review all the books i read ever, i am just putting it out there that this is a wonderful christmas present to receive, and reading it on christmas eve with a giant mug of cocoa is a pretty nice way to spend a few minutes.also - i love arthur rackham. merry merry!!
—karen
I had never read this before, I'm pretty sure - we certainly never had a copy in our house nor any pre-Christmas tradition of reading it, nothing like that. Probably my primary school had an old copy but I don't think I was too interested. So this was a new reading experience for me, one I approached without any memories or sense of nostalgia to guide me. I got it because it's such a classic, and I believe it's the origin of Santa's sleigh and reindeer (which are named), though don't quote me on that.I decided to get the original edition - I love the old style of illustrations and I didn't want anything changed or edited. It's a classic, after all! What I found was a really delightful poem that carries with it a great sense of expectation, anticipation and atmosphere, far more than I would expect, and the descriptions had that Narnia quality - it's the only word I can think to describe it, but basically I mean the way things looked in an age gone by, an older period that's nostalgic to us now.It's not the children who discover St. Nicholas, but their father, who is woken by the "clatter" of a sleigh and eight small reindeer, who waits for him to exit the chimney. I love the descriptions of Saint Nick, some of which I've included here, followed by their accompanying illustrations: He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot'A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,And he looked like a pedler [sic] just opening his pack. The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;He had a broad face and a little round belly,That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly. He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread; I'm not sure how much of our current Santa mythology comes from this poem - I'll have to wait to find out when I read Gerry Bowler's Santa: A Biography later on - but whether it started anything or not, it's certainly played a big part in immortalising it all. Little has changed since this was published in 1912 - really the only thing different is that Santa was later dressed in Coca Cola colours for their own marketing, something we've been stuck with ever since. Another reason why I wanted the original, pre-Coca Cola illustrations.This was a truly delightful read, in a purely nostalgic sense, and while I may not have grown up with it as a kid, it manages to bring back that sense of excitement and wonder and make you feel like a bit of a kid again, which is always a good feeling.
—Shannon (Giraffe Days)
