"Twas the night before Christmas,"
those classic lines we all know,
starts the poem A Visit from St. Nicholas
penned by Clement C. Moore in his NYC abode.
That's right, it was written right here
in jolly old New York!
First published anonymously in 1823,
it landed with the pop of a cork.
***
It's not just any old poem
that people recite nostalgically,
in many ways it's the foundation
of the Santa Claus mythology.
The way we imagine that plump fellow,
whose beard is white as snow,
is a credit to the poem's legacy
and its picturesque afterglow.
Scholars still debate the poem's origin—
did Moore or Major Henry Livingston Jr. write it so?—
it's a controversy for the ages,
an historical fandango.
There's no less than nine paragraphs
devoted to it on Wikipedia,
this Christmas mystery for the ages
could drive a sane man to academia.
***
But down at 314 West 22nd Street
there's no controversy at all,
Moore's Chelsea apartment has been landmarked—
on a plaque of gold "Twas The Night" is scrawled.
Barb Salzman has been living there
since 2005 happily,
and has recently taken to putting up the poem
to delight the close-knit neighborhood tastefully.
She prints out each page of the poem
and displays it outside her brownstone,
underneath a sparkly peace sign,
as a tribute to a legend homegrown.
Salzman and her fiancee Dave Comee
first put it up five years ago.
But on Instagram this year it's been met
with particularly jubilant gusto.
***
Now we pause our holiday rhyme
to ask Salzman a question just because:
Why do they celebrate this tradition
when she doesn't even believe in Santa Claus?
"Technically I'm Jewish, it's not even my holiday,"
she told Gothamist over the phone.
"It's a really nice thing to do."
And that's nothing to bemoan.
***
She said, "I think if you ever get a chance
to spread a little peace and joy,
you get it back tenfold,"
and, she added, this was no ploy.
"So there's no motivation behind this,
[except] to make people happy.
It's become a neighborhood staple."
And there's nothing wrong with being a little sappy.
I asked if she knew of the controversy
involving the poem's biographical cohesion.
She said it wouldn't be that funny
if the building were landmarked for no reason.
She said, "Repairs are a total nightmare.
You have to keep your wood windows which are a mess.
A lot of very funny rules all because of this [poem],"
I did not disagree, I confess.
***
So if you want to see the poem
displayed with so much care
it'll be up at least through the New Year,
with tiny trees, stockings, and other fanfare.
So Happy Christmas to all,
let's end this the traditional way,
not by wishing to all a good night,
but with a reading by Michael Bublé.
