The Night Before Christmas a personalised book with your child as the hero

It was the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in a long row above the glowing fire: a red one, a green one, a striped one and a little one with a patch on the toe. Ellie stood in front of them in her long nightshirt and her soft stocking cap, and looked at each one in turn. They were empty now. But tomorrow, perhaps, if St. Nicholas came...

"Bedtime," called Mother. "Or he won't come at all."

So Ellie climbed into bed. Her little brother was already nestled all snug in the bed across the room, fast asleep, while visions of sugar-plums danced in his head. Ellie could almost see them too, sugared plums and candy canes and gingerbread stars, twirling in the air between the two beds.

Mother, in her kerchief, settled into the armchair by the window, and Ellie, in her cap, pulled the blankets up to her chin. The whole house had just settled down for a long winter's nap.

But Ellie could not sleep. She lay with her eyes wide open, listening to the quiet. The fire crackled softly downstairs. The clock ticked in the hall. Outside, the snow lay deep and still.

Then, out on the lawn, there arose such a clatter that Ellie sprang from her bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window she flew like a flash, tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow gave a shine like the middle of day to everything below. And what should Ellie's wondering eyes see but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer, with a little old driver, so lively and quick, that she knew in a moment it must be St. Nick!

More rapid than eagles, his reindeer 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!"

Like dry leaves that whirl in a wild winter wind, the reindeer flew up into the sky, up and over the garden, up to the very top of the house, with the sleigh full of toys and St. Nicholas too. Ellie leaned out of the window and looked up, and she heard on the roof the prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

She pulled in her head and was turning around, when down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound!

Ellie crept to the top of the stairs and peeped round the door. There he was, standing in the fireplace. He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot, and his clothes were all dusty with ashes and soot. A bundle of toys was flung on his back, and he looked like a pedlar just opening his pack.

His eyes, how they twinkled! His dimples, how merry! His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry. His funny little mouth was drawn up like a bow, and the beard on his chin was as white as the snow. He had a broad face and a little round belly that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, and Ellie laughed when she saw him, in spite of herself. Then he turned his head and gave her a wink, and she knew at once she had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work. He filled all the stockings, the red and the green, the striped one and the one with the patch on the toe, with toys and oranges and sweets, until every stocking was bulging. Then he turned with a jerk.

He laid a finger aside of his nose, and giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.

Ellie ran back to the window just in time. St. Nicholas sprang to his sleigh and gave his team a whistle, and away they all flew like the down of a thistle. They rose up over the rooftops and across the face of the shining moon, the eight tiny reindeer pulling with all their might.

And Ellie heard him exclaim, as he drove out of sight:

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

Then the window was quiet, and the snow was still, and Ellie climbed back into her warm bed. She smiled, and she closed her eyes, and this time she fell asleep at once. In the morning, her little brother would wake up and run downstairs to find the stockings full. But only Ellie would know that she had seen St. Nicholas himself, on the night before Christmas.