The Mouse Before Christmas

Dear story snacker,

This will be the first thing you’ve ever read that makes rodents and Christmas Eve work together perfectly.

In the poll I included in the previous Storyletter—asking which story you wanted next—the vote was overwhelmingly in favor of the murder mystery Death and Bottlecaps.

So, part 1 of that short story was going to go out today.

However, it’s just a few days from Christmas, and I’ve decided to post something a little more in the Yuletide spirit, inspired by one of my favorite pieces of Christmas writing.

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas is an amazing poem, a piece of storytelling so tightly metered, perfectly rhymed, and expressively written that it’s still read aloud and loved TWO-HUNDRED-AND-ONE years after its first publication in 1823.

A couple weeks ago when I was in a very rare poetry-writing mood, I wondered what would happen if the first couplet was changed just a bit…what new Christmas poem would follow?

See for yourself.

STORY SNACK

The Mouse Before Christmas

‘Twas the night before Christmas

When all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, except for a mouse