Happy Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!

A Visit From St. Nicholas

Clement Clarke Moore

1822

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled, all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.

And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap.

When out on the lawn, there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window, I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Gave the lustre of midday to objects below.

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers 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, Donner and Blitzen!

To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall!

Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,

With a sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof,

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my head, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.

A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes - how they twinkled! His dimples - how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.

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 I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, 'ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!"

RATM campaign shows that public no longer cower from Cowell

THE ANNUAL battle for Christmas number one produced a shock of epic proportions as American rap metal act Rage Against The Machine beat X Factor winner Joe McElderry.

RATM's 1992 single 'Killing In The Name' became the first ever download-only Christmas number one, selling over 500,000 copies after an internet campaign.

Joe's song 'The Climb' shifted 50,000 fewer units to leave X Factor creator Simon Cowell feeling "gutted".

By contrast, the leaders of the Facebook campaign, Jon and Tracy Morter, were astounded by their success.

And, after four successive X Factor Christmas number ones, it does indeed make a refreshing change.

In fact, it is more than that.

The success of 'Killing In The Name' means 2009 will be remembered as the year that the Christmas number one race was reclaimed by the public, rather than being predetermined by Mr Cowell and his faceless executives.

It is not as if he could not have seen it coming.

Last year, a similar campaign tried to get Jeff Buckley's version of 'Hallelujah' to the coveted top spot, only for it to lose to Alexandra Burke.

This time, the internet campaign generated more publicity, including a rather controversial airing of the single when RATM appeared on BBC Five Live Breakfast.

Mr Cowell's choice of a little-known song for 18-year-old Joe to sing also appears to have done no favours for the South Shields lad.

But while Joe seemed to accept that he lost a fair fight, Mr Cowell laughably accused the campaigners of acting like a "hate mob" and even compared it to bullying.

Such an evil campaign was this that it raised £65,000 for homeless charity Shelter!

Personally, I bought neither. I was too busy listening to Brit pop when RATM were at their peak in the mid-1990s.

Meanwhile, I have never made a habit of buying the X Factor winner's single.

But, simply for the fact that this was a victory for the 'little man', I was glad of the result. I only wished it had featured Noddy Holder or someone equally as festive instead.

I imagine Mr Cowell will get over his disappointment quickly enough.

Like him, both acts are attached to Sony and, with combined sales of almost one million copies, he will have earned a nice Christmas bonus.

He must also consider that any damage to the X Factor's dominance will have been negligible.

Just last week, the show pulled in more than 19 million viewers, almost unheard of figures outside of England football matches and the occasional soap opera episode.

Make no doubt about it - the X Factor will be back next year and probably stronger than ever.

But the campaigners will also be back to ensure that the Christmas number one is never again a shoo-in for the X Factor winner.

Steeleye Span at The Sage

FOLK LEGENDS Steeleye Span played an excellent set as they celebrated their 40th anniversary in Hall One of The Sage in Gateshead.

Steeleye were formed in 1969 and spearheaded the folk revival in the UK during the late 1960s and early 1970s along with Fairport Convention.

The band even briefly flirted with the mainstream when 'All Around My Hat' reached number five in the charts in late 1975.

Since then, Steeleye has toured with various guises as members have come and gone.

Indeed, only Maddy Prior remains from the original line-up, though her ex-husband Rick Kemp and Peter Knight have been involved since the early days.

For the record, the line-up now consists of Maddy Prior on vocals, Ken Nicol on guitar/vocals, Rick Kemp on bass/vocals, Peter Knight on violin/piano/vocals, and Liam Genocky on percussion.

The quintet were joined on stage by the impressive multi-instrumentalist Pete Zorn who had replaced an ill Kemp earlier in the tour, and - for one of their songs - Kemp's daughter, Rose.

The gig was split into two parts of just over an hour each with an interval lasting just long enough to sink a Black Sheep ale.

In the first half, Steeleye played a broad range of songs from over the years, including 'Seagull' and 'They Called Her Babylon'.

As a bit of a history buff, the latter greatly interested me. The 'Babylon', to which the song refers, was Lady Charlotte Stanley who successfully protected her property from the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War.

In the second half, three seasonal songs introduced a festive feel to proceedings but, surprisingly, none of the three songs was 'Gaudete', their second most famous hit.

At least the encore was reassuringly familiar with crowd-pleasing renditions of 'All Around My Hat' and 'Hard Times of England'

The show ended with a big ovation before the audience shuffled out of this fine three-tier venue on the banks of the Tyne into the ever-worsening wintry weather.

Finally, it felt that Christmas was here.