'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, — not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

A Visit from St. Nicholas, l. 1. Published anonymously in the Troy, New York Sentinel on December 23, 1823, and was reprinted frequently thereafter with no name attached; later attributed to Clement Clarke Moore and included in an 1844 anthology of his works