A poem entitled, “Visit From St. Nicholas”
a.k.a. ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
originally published in the Troy Sentinel in 1823.

by Clement Clarke Moore or Henry Livingston

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

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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;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;

And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled down for a long winter’s nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

“Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,

With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my head, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

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 peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes — how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

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;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

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

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.”

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“All Aboard! This is the Polar Express.”

Today, my wife and I secured tickets to ride The Polar Express shortly after Thanksgiving. We logged onto the V & T Railroad website (V & T stands for the Virginia and Truckee) and found that most of the tickets were already purchased for the dates that we wanted to have this experience. We chose to go in the VIP Parlor Car. If we’re going to have an experience with our kids, we might as well go all the way, right?

Needless to say, my wife and I are very excited about this experience. The Polar Express is one of our favorite books to read to our children around the holidays. Also, the Polar Express movie does a great job keeping true to the book as well as enhancing the adventure aspects of the book.

Tom Hanks doesn’t do a bad job as the voice(s) in The Polar Express movie either. In fact, he’s one of my favorite actors. Did you know, Tom Hanks spent some of his youth in Reno, Nevada? It’s true! Of course, those were the days well before he filmed Bosom Buddies, Sleepless in Seattle, Forest Gump, or Cast Away. His connection to Reno makes me like him that much more, even though he may have a slip of the tongue here and there on national television. We love you, Tom!

Polar Express Giveaway Details

To coincide with our journey on the Polar Express, we decided to hold another giveaway. This time, we’ll be giving away The Polar Express on Blu-ray and a copy of the book by Chris Van Allsburg. This giveaway will last until Monday, December 17, 2012 at 9:00 PM PDT. We think this will be just enough time before Christmas to get the items to the lucky winner. You can say that we’re just in a giving mood, it being Christmas and all. Well, even though it is still a couple days before Halloween at the time of writing this post, Christmas will be here before we know it. That being said, please enter the giveaway below and spread the word. Let’s make this the best holiday season ever.

All aboard the Polar Express!

What: The Polar Express diesel train ride. It is an hour long and includes a souvenir ceramic Polar Express mug, a keepsake silver bell, hot chocolate, water, holiday treats, entertainment and a reading of The Polar Express.

Who: The V & T Railroad

When: Departure times: 5:00pm, 6:30pm & 8:00pm each Friday, Saturday and Sunday night from November 23rd through December 23rd.

Where: Carson City Depot, 4650 Eastgate Siding Road Carson City, Nevada 89701 | (775) 687-7410

Extra Extra: Children are encouraged to wear their pajamas. Also, if don’t have a printer, write down your confirmation code and bring it with you at check-in. You can also purchase “winter road closure protection” with your tickets in case the roads prevent you from arriving. Please bring your picture ID and a printout of your confirmation, and go directly to the activity location.

No cancellations or refunds. All ticket sales are final.

The Polar Express diesel train ride from Carson City, Nevada to Virginia City is based on THE POLAR EXPRESS book and characters TM & © 1985 by Chris Van Allsburg. Used by Permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. TM & © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (Source: Carson City Activity Tickets)

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By sponsoring this article, your sponsorship will display for a period of 180 days (6 months). If, for any reason, and it is up to the discretion of the authors of Windy Pinwheel, we feel content linked to or the name provided does not coincide with the objectives of this site for our audience we will issue a refund and pull the sponsorship of the article. This action does not limit you from sponsoring an article on our site again. However, by sponsoring again, we will issue the same review criteria as the prior sponsorship and if it fails, we will follow the same process as before and issue a refund and pull down the sponsorship. We truly appreciate the support of our audience and hope you can help offset our costs of operating this site by sponsoring our site articles.

For all reviews, please exercise discretion. If the sponsor of the article is in conflict of the topic of the article, we will pull down the sponsorship to remove any conflict of interest with the article at-hand. For instance, there is an article about a hamburger restaurant and a competing hamburger restaurant sponsors the article; we will pull the sponsorship and issue a refund.

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