History Literature / TwasTheNightBeforeChristmas

A perennial favorite for [[ChristmasSpecial Christmastime reading]], the poem is considered the TropeCodifier for a lot of the popular imagery of SantaClaus, up to and including his reindeer and their names.[[note]]The TropeMaker for the creation of the specific American depiction of Santa is thought to be Creator/WashingtonIrving's satire ''[[ShortTitleLongElaborateSubtitle A History of New York, From the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty]]'', also known as ''[[OfficiallyShortenedTitle Knickerbocker's History of New York]]'', though Santa himself (or rather, the archetype of what would later be known as "Santa Claus") is believed to be [[OlderThanTheyThink much]] ''[[OlderThanFeudalism much]]'' [[OlderThanFeudalism older]][[/note]] Being such an iconic work, it has also been {{parod|y}}ied and spoofed enough to merit its own trope: TheParodyBeforeChristmas (funnily enough, the poem itself features a fat smoking caricature of St. Nicholas, so it's basically a SpoofingSpoofiness situation). A related spoof is for somebody to mix up the names of the eight reindeer in particular; that's DasherDancerPrancerAndNixon.

A perennial favorite for [[ChristmasSpecial Christmastime reading]], the poem is considered the TropeCodifier for a lot of the popular imagery of SantaClaus, up to and including his reindeer and their names[[note]]The TropeMaker for the creation of the specific American depiction of Santa is thought to be Creator/WashingtonIrving's satire ''[[ShortTitleLongElaborateSubtitle A History of New York, From the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty]]'', also known as ''[[OfficiallyShortenedTitle Knickerbocker's History of New York]]'', though Santa himself (or rather, the archetype of what would later be known as "Santa Claus") is believed to be [[OlderThanTheyThink much]] ''[[OlderThanFeudalism much]]'' [[OlderThanFeudalism older]][[/note]]. As such an iconic work, it has also been {{parod|y}}ied and spoofed enough to merit its own trope: TheParodyBeforeChristmas (funnily enough, the poem itself features a fat smoking caricature of Saint Nicholas, so it's basically a SpoofingSpoofiness situation). A related spoof is for someone to mix up the names of the eight reindeer in particular; that's DasherDancerPrancerAndNixon.

A perennial favorite for [[ChristmasSpecial Christmastime reading]], the poem is considered the TropeCodifier for a lot of the popular imagery of SantaClaus, up to and including his reindeer and their names[[note]]The TropeMaker for the creation of the specific American depiction of Santa is thought to be Creator/WashingtonIrving's satire ''[[ShortTitleLongElaborateSubtitle A History of New York, From the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty]]'', also known as ''[[OfficiallyShortenedTitle Knickerbocker's History of New York]]'', though Santa himself (or rather, the archetype of what would later be known as "Santa Claus") is believed to be [[OlderThanTheyThink much]] ''[[OlderThanFeudalism much]]'' [[OlderThanFeudalism older]][[/note]]. As such an iconic work, it has also been {{parod|y}}ied and spoofed enough to merit its own trope: TheParodyBeforeChristmas. A related spoof is for someone to mix up the names of the eight reindeer in particular; that's DasherDancerPrancerAndNixon.