My dear little
girls, in the middle of last night
While both of you
were sleeping tight,
As I have always
done in years gone by
I harnessed up my
reindeer brisk and spry
To make my journey
throughout all the land
And bless the
children on every hand.
I called Mrs. Santa
Claus up out of bed
And told her to help
me to load up the sled
Which we soon had
filled with candies and toys
And other good
things for girls and boys.
When everything was
ready I made a big jump
And landed in the
sleigh with a very heavy thump;
Then bidding Mrs.
Santa a jolly good-night
Away I flew and was
soon out of sight.
We made such a noise
when we passed the North Pole
that a big grizzly
bear bounced out of his hole.
Without stopping I
threw him a big slice of meat
And said, "give your
cubs a good Christmas treat";
It pleased him so
that he laughed out loud,
He danced a jig and
even bowed.
My reindeer team
with its many nimble feet
Was the best in the
country and couldn't be beat,
And who couldn't be
proud with such a tally-ho
As they galloped and
danced o'er the bright sparkling snow.
The man in the moon
looked down with a smile
When he saw how
quickly we skipped o'er a mile.
I smoked my pipe as
I rode along
And sang with the
bells a good Christmas song.
And so we went on,
crossing big hills
Till at last we came
to the good Old Mills.
The children there I
am always glad to see
Because I love them
and they love me.
The first place I
stopped at was up on the hill,
For there I had
three little stockings to fill.
When the stockings
were filled, I took a sly peep
At the three little
ones tucked in their beds fast asleep.
And brushing the
frost from my old white beard
I gave each one a
kiss that you might have heard.
By this time the
reindeer made such a prattle
That I said to
myself its time to skedattle;
So pulling the
fire-board out on the floor
I popped up the
chimney and was off once more.
The slate roof you
know is very smooth and steep
And we all tumbled
down in the great big heap;
And wasn't that
indeed a very sorry plight
For poor old Santa
on a bright Christmas Night;
But the children one
and all must have their gifts
In spite of upsets
or big snow drifts,
And as I slowly
crawled out from under the sleigh
I remembered that
where'er there's a will there's a way;
I threw off my
overcoat which was heavy and thick
And had the sleigh
set up again double-quick;
I then went to each
reindeer and patted his head
And said "My good
fellows I am glad you're not dead".
The candies and toys
were pretty well mixed,
But by working very
hard I got everything fixed.
We hurried down the
hill and out through the gate
For the upset had
made us about one hour late.
Those reindeer ran,
yea, I might say flew
And I was soon in
the room of your good uncle Lou.
In coming down the
chimney which looked pretty black
I had a tight
squeeze with my big, heavy pack,
But I pushed and I
pulled till at last I got down
And the first thing
I did was to take a look 'round.
Harry and your uncle
slept soundly without fear
And little did they
dream that old Santa was so near;
The stove made the
room so warm and so bright
That to stay a
little while I thought would be right.
I took off my great
coat and laid it on the chair
And moved about the
room with the greatest of care;
I sat by the stove
and there began to think
And I wondered if I
couldn't find something good to drink;
I hunted all around
and I hunted very sly
For I tell you what
it is I was getting pretty dry;
I opened very slowly
the old kitchen door
And I saw three
cider barrels placed on the floor,
Very handy, indeed,
was a glass tumbler, too
Which told a bad
tale on your old uncle Lou.
I drank a glass
empty some three times or more,
Which I thought was
enough or I might get tore,
I came back again
feeling boozy you may bet,
But to fill up your
stockings I did not forget .
As I filled them I
thought what could please the girls better
Than to receive from
Santa Claus a good long letter,
So I went to the
chimney and unstrapped my pack
And took out a nice
sheet of large fools-cap,
I sat by the table
where pen and ink were handy
And was soon writing
away like a regular Jim-dandy.
As I wrote, one of
the chaps in the bed gave a snore
That the people
might have heard way down in Baltimore
But I didn't care, I
went right ahead
And was bothered
very little by the snores from the bed.
Hark - listen, what
is that – Caramba - can it be?
Why as sure as I
live 'tis the clock striking three
So no time could be
lost, my leave I must take
Or I will not get
home till way after daybreak.
Then bless you my
dear children — be good all the year,
And when Christmas
comes again Santa Claus will be here.
Affectionately,
S. Claus
