'Twas the Night Before Christmas Trivia
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89 free 'Twas the Night Before Christmas trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
'Twas the Night Before Christmas is the poem that gave us the sleigh on the roof, the eight named reindeer, the finger beside the nose and the belly like a bowlful of jelly. It appeared anonymously in a Troy, New York newspaper on December 23, 1823, and Americans have been reciting it, arguing about who wrote it, and adapting it into cartoons and TV specials ever since. This quiz covers the text itself (how many reindeer, what the children dream of, what St. Nick holds in his teeth), the story of its publication and the Clement Clarke Moore versus Henry Livingston authorship dispute, the way it reshaped Santa Claus, and the screen versions from Edison's 1905 silent to Disney, Tom and Jerry and the 1974 Rankin/Bass special with the mice of Junctionville. Some questions are easy enough for kids who know the poem by heart; the history questions will test the adults. Every answer is checked against a reference source, and each question links to where the fact was confirmed.
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Q 01Under what title was 'Twas the Night Before Christmas first printed, anonymously, in 1823?
Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas
Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas ran as the heading over the unsigned verses; the familiar title came later, lifted from the poem's opening words.
Q 02How does the poem describe the sleigh when it first appears?
Miniature, with eight tiny coursers
A friend of Moore's sent it to the upstate New York paper; the Sentinel published from 1823 to 1832 and its former office on River Street still stands.
Q 03Who is traditionally credited as the poem's author, having claimed it in print in 1837?
Clement Clarke Moore
Moore, a biblical scholar, was reluctant to be linked to such unscholarly verse and only included it in his 1844 collected poems at his family's insistence.
Q 04Which Revolutionary War veteran and poet from Poughkeepsie has been proposed as the poem's true author?
Henry Livingston Jr.
Henry Livingston Jr. never claimed the poem himself, and no printing carries his name; his children said he had read it to them years earlier, and his descendants still press the case.
Q 05For whom did Clement Clarke Moore say he originally wrote the poem?
His own kids
His own kids: in an 1844 letter he said the verses were written 'not for publication, but to amuse my children'.
Q 06Which friend of Moore's, author of a satirical History of New York, shaped his St. Nicholas?
Washington Irving
Washington Irving's 1809 satire, written as 'Diedrich Knickerbocker', has St. Nicholas riding over the treetops in the wagon that carries his yearly presents to children.
Q 07How did Moore's poem differ from Irving's version in the timing of St. Nicholas's visit?
He arrives on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day
Historians argue the shift 'deftly' moved the focus away from Christmas Day, which some Protestants still viewed with suspicion.
Q 08How many reindeer pull St. Nicholas's sleigh in the poem?
Eight
Eight is the poem's own count, and its roll call gave Santa's team both the number and the names that later tellings have kept.
Q 09'Dunder and Blixem', the last two reindeer in the 1823 printing, come from Dutch words for what?
Thunder and lightning
Thunder and lightning: the 1823 pair echo the Dutch donder and bliksem; later printings respelled them Donder and Blitzen, and 'Donner' is a later change still.
Q 10Which department store's 1939 giveaway booklet added Rudolph to Santa's team?
Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward had been buying coloring books to give away each Christmas and decided that making its own booklet would save money, so its copywriter Robert L. May wrote Rudolph's story.
Q 11In 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, what do the sleeping children dream of?
Sugar-plums
Sugar-plums were not plums at all but small hard sweets built up in layers of sugar, often around a seed or nut, and visions of them 'danced in their heads' as the children slept.
Q 12In 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, what is the narrator wearing for his 'long winter's nap'?
A cap
A cap, as in 'mamma in her kerchief, and I in my cap': nightcaps were ordinary bedroom wear in cold climates before houses were properly heated.
Q 13In 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, what first sends the narrator springing from his bed?
A clatter out on the lawn
Q 21In the poem, St. Nicholas's little round belly shook when he laughed like what?
A bowlful of jelly
A bowlful of jelly is how his 'little round belly' shook, and the sight of the 'chubby and plump' visitor makes the narrator laugh 'in spite of myself'.
Q 22What gesture does St. Nicholas make just before rising up the chimney?
Lays a finger beside his nose
Lays a finger beside his nose, then gives a nod and is gone: the gesture was borrowed from an 1809 satire of old New York, where St. Nicholas makes the same sign.
Q 23In the poem, what does St. Nicholas say while filling the stockings?
Not a word
A clatter out on the lawn makes him spring up 'to see what was the matter', and he rushes to the window to look.
Q 14In the poem, what gave 'the lustre of mid-day to objects below'?
The moon on the new-fallen snow
The moon on the new-fallen snow lit the scene like midday, the poem says, which is how the narrator can make out the visitors as they arrive.
Q 15How does 'Twas the Night Before Christmas describe the sleigh and reindeer the narrator first sees?
Miniature and tiny
Miniature and tiny: the poem's visitor is 'a right jolly old elf' with a toy-sized team, yet this small sleigh became the model for how Santa has travelled ever since.
Q 16In the poem, the reindeer are said to be 'more rapid than' what?
Eagles
Eagles: 'More rapid than eagles his coursers they came', and the driver shouts each one's name as they fly in.
Q 17To what does 'Twas the Night Before Christmas compare the reindeer flying up to the house-top?
Dry leaves before a hurricane
Dry leaves before a hurricane 'mount to the sky' when they meet an obstacle, and that is how the poem lifts the team, the sleigh and its load of toys onto the roof.
Q 18In the poem, how is St. Nicholas dressed when he comes down the chimney?
Fur, tarnished with soot
Fur, tarnished with soot: he is 'dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot', his clothes dirtied by the ashes of the chimney, and the verses never mention a red suit.
Q 19In the poem, St. Nicholas's nose is compared to which fruit?
A cherry
A cherry: with rosy cheeks, twinkling eyes and a white beard, the poem's jolly face became the pattern for how Santa Claus has been pictured ever since.
Q 20In the poem, what does St. Nicholas hold tight in his teeth?
The stump of a pipe
The stump of a pipe was a borrowed touch: an 1809 satire of old New York had already shown St. Nicholas lighting his pipe and puffing smoke over the treetops.
Not a word: 'He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work', and his parting call comes only as he drives out of sight.
Q 24In the poem, the sleigh flies away 'like the down of' what?
A thistle
A thistle: 'away they all flew like the down of a thistle', the team lifting off as lightly as seed fluff the moment the driver springs back into his sleigh.
Q 25In the original text, which word comes before 'Christmas to all, and to all a good night'?
Happy
Happy, not Merry: the 1823 newspaper text and a 1912 illustrated edition both end with 'Happy Christmas to all', called out as he drives out of sight.
Q 26The poem's traditional author was a professor of what subject at New York's General Theological Seminary?
Biblical learning
Biblical learning was his life's work, with a Hebrew lexicon published in 1809, yet he is remembered for light verses he said were written 'not for publication'.
Q 27Which Manhattan neighborhood grew out of Moore's family estate, which he subdivided and developed?
Chelsea
Chelsea took its name from the family estate; he gave its apple orchard as the site of the General Theological Seminary, then divided the rest into building lots.
Q 28In the opening lines of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, the stockings were hung by the chimney with what?
Care
Care: 'The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there', and by the end of the visit he has filled every one.
Q 29Which professor used textual analysis in 2000 to argue Moore could not have written the poem?
Donald Foster
Foster's case for Livingston was rebutted point by point by document dealer Seth Kaller, who once owned one of Moore's manuscripts of the poem.
Q 30The 56 lines of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas are arranged in rhyming what?
Couplets
Couplets: the lines rhyme in pairs, house with mouse and beds with heads, and the bouncing beat comes from anapests, two light syllables before each stress.