1 - Listen to the poem below without writing anything down. This will give you an idea of the content and you will become familiar with the reader’s voice and pronunciation.
2 - Listen to the poem again and fill in the blanks as you listen.
3 - Listen again before checking your answers!
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the
Not a creature was stirring, not even a ;
The stockings all by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be ;
The children were nestled all in their beds;
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their ;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my ,
Had just settled down for a long winter's ,
When out on the there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the .
Away to the I flew like a flash,
Tore open the and threw up the sash.
The on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
Gave the lustre of midday to objects ,
When what to my wondering did appear,
But a miniature sleigh and tiny rein-deer,
With a little old so lively and quick,
I knew in a he must be St. Nick.
More rapid than his coursers they came,
As he whistled, and , and called them by name:
"Now, Dasher! now, ! now Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, ! on, Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the !
Now dash away! dash away! dash away !"
As dry before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the ;
So up to the the coursers they flew
With the sleigh full of , and St. Nicholas too—
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the
The prancing and pawing of each little .
As I drew in my , and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with and soot;
A of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his .
His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples, how !
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