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. Santa Claus personifies the spirit of Christmas and embodies all our feelings of joy, faith, goodwill and renewed hope at the turn of the year. It is from the 19th-century American poem A Visit from St Nicholas that our modern image of the jolly, red-robed, gift-bearing Santa has emerged. This poem drew together many European myths and legends surrounding the celebration of the winter solstice; Odin, the Norse god; and St Nicholas , the 4th-century Bishop of Myra. It was syndicated by Harpers magazine and became enormously popular through the illustrations of THOMAS NAST. Everyman traces the evolution of Santa Claus and talks to Sir Yehudi Menuhin , Raymond Briggs , Bruno Bettelheim , Sheila Kitzinger and Count Andrew von Staufer about the magic and mystery of this timeless figure of C