I much prefer this "Night Before Christmas" to all of the ridiculous ones with mice and all of the other animals since. When her siblings ask for their father to bring them home toys from his business trip Gretchen only wants a book. She wants to read about Santa Claus to learn more about the great man. It's a wonderful account of the era in which the story was written. It was funny as the youngest brother was stringing popcorn and the dog was eating it off the end of the string as the little boy put it on. Of course the little boy was stuffing a lot of the popcorn into his own mouth as well. Gretchen was the perfect mother's helper and reminds me of Wendy in "Peter Pan." As I recall Gretchen had two brothers just like Wendy and she helps the youngest brother by tying a knot in the end of his popcorn string. I grew up listening to "The Night Before Christmas" performed by Fred Waring and his Orchestra. I much prefer it to just hearing the story read. The music races with the wind as Santa comes into sight and is softened as the father watches him go about filling the stockings. No one really listens to the song. I found it on a Time Life Christmas CD set and I bought it for that song alone. Sadly, their later collections with the same picture and title omitted the song. I wish someone would actually show it every year. I haven't seen it since it was first shown in 1968, but I remember it vividly.
Review of The Night Before Christmas
