Christmas classic specialist to launch "Twas the Night Before Christmas" book tour at Constable Hall

Julie Abbass, Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.
·2 min read

Sep. 12—CONSTABLEVILLE — It has taken 10 years for Canadian art historian Pamela McColl to complete her "labor of love" researching the poem that changed the way the United States and many other countries celebrate Christmas — "Account of A Visit from St. Nicholas" commonly known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" from its first line — just in time for the poem's 200th anniversary.

Ms. McColl is kicking off her nationwide book tour for the result of her work, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas: The Art and History of the Classic Christmas Poem" at historic Constable Hall, 5909 John St., on Friday with a reading and book signing from 3 to 5 p.m. in the hall's Oneida Room.

The Constable Hall Association is excited to welcome Ms. McColl as "a noted expert on the beloved poem" being that they have long maintained that Clement C. Moore, believed by most to be the author, penned the verse inspired by his visit to the Constable family at the hall.

"The mistress of the Hall, Mary Eliza McVickar Constable (1789-1870), was a cousin of Clement C. Moore and family tradition has always said the poem was given as a gift for her five young children. In 1822, the year the poem was written, Mary Eliza was a young, recently widowed mother facing the task of raising her family on her own in a rural part of upstate New York," according to association trustee Nancy Pleskach.

The generally held narrative is that Mr. Moore wrote the poem for his children.

There has been some controversy over the decades about the identity of the author as the ancestors of another poet of that time, Henry Livingston Jr., with the support of some academics, claim that he wrote the landmark piece but have yet to produce strong enough evidence for Mr. Moore's authorship to be denied.

Smoking cessation advocate Ms. McColl published a smoke-free version of the classic in 2012 — "'Twas the Night Before Christmas: Edited by Santa Claus for the Benefit of Children of the 21st Century" — that removed all reference to Santa smoking his pipe. The book received significant international media attention.

For more information about Constable Hall, go to their website at constablehall.org or call 315-397-2323, and about Ms. McColl and her work, go to twasthenightbook.com.