’TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

The classic Christmas poem is set to old-fashioned illustrations.

A snow-covered village in tones of blue, with snow still falling, warm yellow lights glowing, and smoke drifting from brick chimneys, centers a snowman smiling up to the sky, where a reindeer’s antler pokes onto the page. Each spread illustrates a set of rhyming verses set against a white background: the mice sleeping, the stockings hung by the chimney, the children and mamma, all White, asleep in bed. When “out on the lawn / there arose such a clatter,” a person in a nightcap runs to the window, then gapes out at the magical reindeer-led sleigh several houses away, lit with small dots of yellow in the blue-toned snowy night. A close-up of the reindeer in midair and an active Santa (also White) driving them gives way to a bird’s-eye view of the reindeer landing on the rooftop of the narrator’s brick residence. For four spreads, St. Nicholas is in the house, stuffing stockings, smoking his pipe, and winking at the narrator. As he flies off with a trail of golden sparkling light, his call of “Happy Christmas to all, / and to all a good night!” is set in large italic type, and the narrator stands outside with a candle, waving. For those who love the poem’s old-fashioned feeling, these illustrations perfectly match the magical, nostalgic tone of the text.

Those who never tire of the iconic text will delight in this classy interpretation.