Hooray for St. Nicholas Day! Three Ways to Visit with St. Nick

Although the stores have been twinkling and jingling for weeks, today is the day we recognize jolly old St. Nick and his part in our Christmas customs. Here are a couple of the best modern settings of the Clement Clark Moore poem which has kept us filling those stockings for all these years.

Jan Brett's rich, opulent setting for Moore's poem features her signature rich colors and intricate, exuberant style. Santa makes his stop at a substantial nineteenth century New England house filled with wonderful Victoriana. Two stowaway elves add humor to the story as St. Nick struggles to unload the right toys and fill the stockings before the wakeful parents and children can spy on the scene. Spilling toys on the lawn as they hustle to get the job done, Santa and his quirky crew make their escape just in time for the children to catch a glimpse of the wondrous scene of a moonlit, snow-covered lawn with the reindeer-drawn sleigh leaping into the sky. Each page features Brett's signature frames adorned with traditional toys and other holiday artifacts. Another brilliant Brett setting for an even older Christmas classic is her version of The Twelve Days of Christmas. Other notable wintry books by Jan Brett include The Wild Christmas Reindeer, Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve? and Christmas Trolls, all of which showcase Brett's use of folkloric Scandinavian settings to great effect.

Very different from Brett's version, Caldecott illustrator Tomie de Paola's The Night Before Christmas uses a lighter palette and an early American setting to set off Moore's poem. De Paola uses deep pastels and bright reds, blues, and greens in drawings which recall primitive American portraiture, a less rococo style which works well for younger children and extends the text of the poem clearly and warmly. For families with an Italian background, De Paola's wonderful Merry Christmas, Strega Nona shows off the Christmas customs of Calabria in Italy, with very different foods (Christmas codfish) and decorations (lemon blossoms) and customs, and tells a sweet noodle tale with great warmth and feeling for the season.

For kids who like to do something besides hear the familiar old poem, Jean Marzollo and Walter Wick offer their I Spy Christmas: A Book of Picture Riddles. Oh, yes, there are some nicely designed pages which feature the classic Clement Moore poem, but what follows is a challenging workout for kids. Believe me, kids (and adults) can spend hours with this book searching out the seasonal items called for on each page. Most kids will still be working on this book long after the tree comes down and 24/7 jingling, dingling bells are just a memory.