- [Michael] Tonight on "WPBS Weekly Inside The Stories", Canadian author and activist Pamela McColl shares her journey with this celebrated story and how it just might be connected to Lewis County and the Life Church of the Nazarene in Watertown gathers to collect hundreds of boxes filled with toys and other needed items for children across the world.

Plus, Hand Candy Mittens in Manville, New York, spins out warm mittens, hats and scarves using recycled material.

Your stories, your region.

Coming up right now on "WPBS Weekly Inside The Stories".

(bright music) - [Announcer] "WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories" is brought to you by the Watertown Oswego Small Business Development Center, the JM McDonald Foundation, the Estate of Grant Mitchell, and the Dr. D. Susan Badenhausen Legacy Fund of the Northern New York Community Foundation.

Additional funding from the New York State Education Department.

- Good Tuesday evening everyone, and welcome to this edition of "WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories".

I'm Michael Riecke.

We kick off tonight with the bicentennial celebration of the beloved Christmas poem, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas", only this version is unlike any other.

Author Pamela McColl sits down with producer Jolene DeRosier to discuss her art and history book that is the first of its kind.

"'Twas the Night, the Art and History of the Classic Christmas Poem."

She shares the journey of this brilliant piece of poetry that may have actually been read aloud by original author Clement Clark Moore in 1823 at Constable Hall in Lewis County.

- Merry Christmas to all of you.

I am so excited about this segment.

We're in the studio right now with Canadian author Pamela McColl, who penned, "'Twas The Night Before Christmas".

It's originally by Clement Seymour, but her version, but we're not here because of that.

We're here because of this beautiful compilation, 'Twas the Night, The Art and History of the Classic Christmas Poem", which you put together.

That's a mouthful, but I wanna dig into how you went from this to how you went from this.

But first of all, hello to you.

- Hello, and thank you for having me.

- Yeah, we really appreciate it.

This is an exciting story in so many ways because this book catapulted you into a place you didn't expect to be, writing, rewriting in your version, a poem that was written in the 1800s.

So let's start here.

- Sure.

- Tell me what the original title of this poem was called and where it was printed.

- Sure.

It was first printed in the Troy Sentinel New York newspaper, the Troy Sentinel, on December the 23rd, 1823.

Thanks to the editor, Orva Holly.

And it was called "A Visit from St.

Nicholas."

- And that also has roots right here in the North country.

We're in Jefferson County even as we speak.

This poem has roots in Lewis County.

How?

- Yes.

Well, the Constable family are related to the Clemency Moore family, and it's considered that it's a possibility that Clemency Moore, when he visited the home, was inspired by the Federalist style house.

It has shutters in the inside of the windows.

It has fireplaces in all the rooms, and that he may have chosen that as his inspiration for this poem.

- So I think most people know how "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" started, I just said the title of it, "'Twas The Night Before Christmas."

What inspired you to write this and publish this?

And you did this in 2012?

- Yes.

- You did something that kind of shook the media nation in 2012.

Tell me what you did.

- Well, it's considered to be the most famous poem in the library of English literature, and I dared to edit it out, edit out the smoking Santa.

So I took away the pipe in the illustrations and I took about the language.

It talked about the wreath of smoke around Santa's head, and that did cause a firestorm because people just didn't think that anyone should mess with this great classic piece of work.

- One of the people who thought that was Stephen Colbert and he had a segment on "The Colbert Report", and let's just take a second to look at that.

- Folks, one of the most cherished traditions of Christmas is reading the classic, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas", but now that's over.

- A new smoke-free version of "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" is getting some holiday jeers.

A visit from St. Nicholas, the jolly old elf, kicks his pipe habit cold turkey.

Author and anti-smoking advocate Pamela McColl edited out two verses about smoking.

- The verses are, "The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth and the smoke encircled his head like a wreath."

- Santa can't quit smoking.

He needs that vice.

You try dealing with the stress of delivering the world's toys in a single night.

- What was your reaction when you saw that and he wasn't the only one that had something to say and criticize?

- I think it was amazing that someone of that reach took interest in my project and sent it, you know, catapulted it around the world.

It was talked about in China and India, that went crazy.

And I thank Stephen Colbert for giving me a book that has been a bestseller for the last 10, 12 years and won eight book awards.

So I really have to applaud him for taking an interest.

- What else has it done for you?

Yeah, because we were talking earlier and you said it created a platform for you, and I don't think you expected that, but it created a platform that led to greater things.

- That's right.

Because I was involved in tobacco prevention, I was, but this allowed me access to some very major individuals who work on not only tobacco prevention, but drug prevention, such as former Congressman Patrick Kennedy.

And they afforded me an opportunity to go to the United Nations twice and to make presentations on behalf of drug prevention.

So it was a small project that turned into a huge project, and it's my legacy for sure.

- So that's why I wanna talk about the big part of the project.

So she started with this book in 2012, and then she created, and it started last year.

You started doing a book tour with this baby right here, "'Twas The Night, The Art and History of The Classic Christmas Poem."

So that firestorm among other things, prompted you to really dig into the poem and tell people about the history of it.

But this took you 10 years?

- Yes, it did.

I have an art and history background.

My education, I have an undergraduate degree in history, and I have graduate work in art.

So I wanted to bring those two loves to a retirement project.

I'm 65 years old and I wanted to have this to work on for the next 10 years.

Again, like I can go out there.

I've been touring and going to libraries and museums and art galleries and bookshops and it's been wonderful.

And so I plan to do that for quite a long time and talk to people about this poem and to keep it going.

But I want this poem to be enjoyed for generations to come.

- What have you discovered in your, when you were digging through this and finding all the artwork, which is unbelievably beautiful, what struck you as something you didn't know before about this poem?

- I think the depth of the character of Clemency Moore, the life of the man.

I think the depth of the character in life of Washington Irving, which I had not really delved into before, who I happened to have fallen in love with during this, falling in love with a ghost is a bit odd.

But he was, he would've been wonderful, but so would've William Constable.

They were really interesting people.

And when you spend time with them reading what they wrote or reading about their lives, you can't help but admire them.

- And so when it comes to this book, and you attach it to this one, which you said has won many awards and still is a bestseller, do you know of any other authors who have adapted this version that got flack for, I mean, people make changes all the time with this story.

- [Pamela] Yes, they do.

- Any other authors that got flack for, did they take Rudolph's nose away, get flack?

- I know the one thing I always think is funny is that Paul McCartney, he took the turkey out of the Christmas song because he is a vegetarian and yet nobody took him apart, right?

I was bopped on the head with my book in a library one night and called a heretic for my edit.

Not a censor, I did not censor the poem.

I edited it and as you said, it's been edited.

Even the line in the poem from 1822 that says, you know, "Happy Christmas," the last two words, it was changed in 1828 to Merry Christmas.

You know, so it is been changed a great deal.

I think just people just thought that I should not have gone as far as I did with taking away the pipe.

But I think because of what Bill Clinton and his administration did in 1998 with the Master Settlement Agreement, that it's illegal to use cartoon characters to sell tobacco.

I think it's a valid thing to do.

And I've been applauded for it by lots of parents and certainly children who write the Santa saying, "Please get my parents to quit smoking."

They deserve to have a smoke free Santa Claus book, right?

So that's why I did it.

- Where has it brought you now in 2023?

Other things have happened?

- Well, I've been introduced to some movie people and some Hallmark people.

That's kind of exciting.

I read that email and almost started to cry because it's just so lovely to see people reach out to me.

I know David Paul Kirkpatrick, the former president of Paramount Pictures and past president of Disney and Touchstone, he bought a lot of copies of my book, which was really thrilling, and wrote a really lovely review.

So there's been some really good support.

And that's just, it's very rewarding when you work on something as long as I did, to have people like that take time to actually help someone like me.

I mean, who's a very small publisher.

And I just, it's been really touching - Creatives like you, artists like you, we create to create.

And typically there's not an expectation attached.

Well, most of the time.

Did you expect the attention that grew with this book when you started to create it even after it was published?

- I anticipated it because I think that this poem is, it's so well loved and so famous.

I mean, it's the most famous poem ever written in English language.

It's also the most recited, the most collected, the most republished.

It's American, it's Manhattan.

If I couldn't make the, if I couldn't make this work, you know what I mean?

And it's celebrating this bicentennial, you know, December 23rd, 1823 to 2023, if I couldn't make this work, right?

Then, wow, what am I missing?

So it was a dream project and I wanted to be the authority on the poem.

I had the background for it, and I went for it.

And it's been really well received.

- I had fun flipping through it, and it was such an education for me.

On page 21, a version of this poem has been published under several different titles.

So it wasn't just "A visit from St. Nicholas".

What are some of the other titles we can find this published under?

- Well, "The Night Before Christmas" is, I think the American sort of the more classic, now it's "The Night", but there's pirate versions, there's mice versions, there's Winnie the Pooh versions, there's a Piglet version.

You know, "Piglet's 'Twas The Night Before".

There's so many, right?

And Mickey Mouse came to it.

Disney loved this, but the one I love the most is the FOC Darley from 1862 that was illustrated by Darley, the father of American illustration.

And it was the addition that Teddy Roosevelt read when he was four years of age.

That kind of puts it in context, right?

This is how old this is, how much of a part of American history it is.

And before this poem in 1822, there were, nobody was doing Christmas on Christmas Eve.

It wasn't happening.

There was no trees.

It looked completely different than it does now.

And so we have to credit this poem with Christmas Eve as celebrated in America today, and some people live in it two months of the year.

And it's a very jolly, merry, happy, positive message.

So it's very good for society and people buy presents.

So it's very good for the gross national products.

So it's all very positive.

- This is a great Christmas present, by the way.

So there's something interesting.

You mentioned Roosevelt, the original poem that was authored by Clement Seymour was read by, read to the nation, rather, by First Lady Truman in 1953.

And it continues to be read by our first ladies in the US today.

Why do you think that is?

- It's just such a part of everyone's life.

It's such a big event, Christmas Eve.

I mean, I was down at the Plymouth, the Mayflower Society on Thanksgiving, and I had this opinion that as soon as people had finished their Turkey dinner and put the plates in the dishwasher, somebody turned to the other and said, "Let's put up the Christmas lights," because all of a sudden it was Christmas.

People love Christmas, they do.

And so it's read the White House because it's enjoyed by the nation.

There was also a Supreme Court ruling that it is completely acceptable to read, even though it's Christian, as in the Christmas, it's an elf and it's perfectly fine to read it in school or to celebrate this poem.

It's not something that is, it's inclusive.

It is, so I think that's really great.

- Unfortunately, politics and religion often get in the way as you experienced.

- Right.

But this poem was allowed, the ruling of the Supreme Court was, "This is fine."

- I love that.

Now you're not American.

- No, I'm not.

- What attracted you to it?

And it's in this book, your version of this book right here is in how many different languages?

- Four.

- Four different languages.

- Obviously it's not just, it's an American based poem, but it's known worldwide.

- Well, I just did an interview in Scotland two days ago.

- Oh, I love it.

- You know?

It's like, you know, and of course I'll go on to the Sir Walter Scott and connection to Washington Irving and everybody else, but no, no, the world, I mean, when I was doing this, you know, I could not believe it was being talked about in China.

The fact that Santa Claus had stopped smoking was in China and Bombay, the world loves it.

So it is an American poem for sure, but it's loved the world.

And I think Coca-Cola did the poem an enormous service.

Some people think that it commercialized it.

No, no, they gave this poem a free campaign for decades all over the world.

- Fantastic.

- Right?

- So for folks at home that are interested either in your version or this beautiful, beautiful compilation of the, your history of it and the, the pictures that go with it, they can visit your website at twasthenightbook.com and purchase.

So thank you so much for coming in.

I truly do appreciate it.

I appreciate the stories.

I appreciate you being vulnerable and sharing your trajectory of writing this.

And again, visit the website, get the book, and learn more about the history.

And thank you so, so much for coming in.

- Thank you for having me.

- It was wonderful, it was great.

- If the art and history of the poem intrigues you, you can order a copy of the book for yourself at twasthenightbook.com.

The gift of giving continues in Watertown tonight at the Life Church of the Nazarene.

WPBS's Luke Smith tells us how the community comes together to serve the world at large.

- Unwrap those first buddy.

(children shouting) - [Luke] These kids have a big job this holiday.

Organizer Micah Forni says they're packing shoe boxes for kids on the other side of the world.

- So you can start packing a shoebox either with your family or a church, or even having a packing party where you get people together to just pack shoe boxes and send them on.

And after you pack those, you can take them to a local drop off, which is National Collection Week.

- [Luke] These shoebox gifts are sent through Operation Christmas Child, a program started in 1993 by Samaritan's Purse, president Franklin Graham.

The program works with churches to collect donations from local people that shows these children love.

- [Micah] All they need is that little encouragement from your shoebox that they are loved and somebody across the world cares enough to send them a gift.

- We have done this for 13 years now.

We get together and do, some of us do individual boxes.

And then as a group, we get together once a year near this time for church.

And because we have a lady who shops all year long and buys stuff, and we put it in a closet and then we all get together and put the boxes together.

- I love shopping for those things.

And you keep a child in mind.

You can choose a gender, you can choose an age group and then shop specifically for that child.

- [Luke] Upwards of 200 million shoe boxes have gone to children in 170 countries, including Tanzania, Peru, the Pacific Islands, and Ukraine.

- It might be the only gift that they get at all.

Could you imagine their surprise and wonder at opening a gift like this?

And it's not just one gift.

Inside the shoebox are many different things.

- Some of these different things a child can find, aside from toys are personal care items, school supplies and clothing, things they wouldn't normally receive otherwise.

- The most interesting gift I've heard of recently is a pair of shoes that this little boy had really, really wanted and couldn't afford and couldn't, he couldn't go to school without them.

And he has shoebox contained a pair of shoes in his exact same size.

- Now, you may be wondering why I'm standing out here with this alpaca.

Not only does a greet donators when they enter the door of the church, but it also has a special meaning.

- Our alpaca is a pun for "I'll pack a shoebox."

So it's kind of a running joke in Operation Christmas Child.

- [Luke] And it's a running joke that inspires so many to donate each year.

- One thing is that it's fun.

The other is that we put others ahead of ourselves and that is heartwarming.

- We know that they only get one box during a lifetime.

And we like to make sure that at least they hear the Christian message once in their lifetime.

And usually it means a whole lot to all of them.

- And if you are someone who wants to pack a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child, check out their website for more information on where you can donate.

- Giving is always important.

Giving is what fills us.

Giving is what fills us with joy.

And there can be no other way, in my opinion.

We have to give to others.

- [Luke] In Watertown for WPBS weekly, I'm Luke Smith.

(children laughing) - Keeping the theme of Christmas going, a small cottage industry in tiny Mansfield, New York is keeping us warm this year.

Artisan Charlotte Besaw has been using upcycled materials to create masterpieces with gloves, hats, mittens, and more.

Her business is called Hand Candy Mittens.

And you just may consider some of these masterpieces as gifts for your loved ones this holiday - [Jolene] Bins and bins of sweaters and other textiles are the hub of Charlotte Besaw's business.

Since 2008, she's been keeping the north country warm with her handmade goodies.

All year round, including the holidays, she donates her wares to those in need.

- I think it's really important to give back to your community because the community is what helped me get to where I am.

If there's a skating organization, a high school, a football team, a benefit for someone who is in need, I like to donate mittens for, say a raffle so they can make money for it.

I've often donated to PBS.

Usually I do that as a gift certificate and let the people get to pick out whatever they want.

And I also donate to the Roadie Center, which is a local food pantry.

And they also, they like to get some mittens and things that they can can give to children in need.

- [Jolene] The idea of using repurposed material to create mittens and hats and ultimately a business began after she saw a similar pair created by a family member.

- So one day I was at my mother-in-law's place, and she pulled out a pair of mittens that were made from recycled sweaters.

And there was two layer of sweaters and they were sewn by hand all the way around on the outside.

And I thought, "That's a really cool idea, but how could I do it differently?"

I had made wedding gowns for over 25 years, and when you do a wedding gown, things have to be beautiful on the inside as well as the outside.

And so I thought, "Okay, what if I turn the seams to the inside?

And what if I use polar fleece as the lining?"

- [Jolene] The rest, as they say, is history.

Charlotte made a pair and wore them to a hockey game.

That's when orders from interested parents began.

Soon she was making upcycled hats and scarves as well.

Sometimes her creations are crafted with a beloved sweater from a loved one, giving the family something extra warm to cherish.

- And very often I get folks who contact me and say, "Hey, I have this sweater that my mother made or my grandmother made.

She's no longer with us.

Could you make some mittens for my family?"

We call those memory mittens and those are really, truly special.

But I just think even the fact that this was a sweater that was once loved by someone, but as mittens, it's a wonderful, useful, beautiful object to enjoy.

I prefer to upcycle because there's a glut of materials.

Thrift stores are full of wonderful materials that could be used again if you only use a little imagination.

And I have spoken with some buyers who take the thrift store rejects and things that cannot sell, and they're great big jobbers and they will send a lot of the sweaters and clothing to say, third world countries.

But there's a lot of things that they cannot use.

They always reject sweaters.

We have a big problem in the world with pollution.

Landfills are filling up with clothing, and it's a really terrible thing when these things could be used again.

All we have to do is repurpose, rethink, reuse, and come up with a new use for it.

- [Jolene] This holiday, these upscaled, warm and truly unique items will undoubtedly end up in someone's stocking.

In Manville for WPBS Weekly, I'm Jolene DeRosier.

- If these works of art interest, you visit Hand Candy Mittens on Facebook and you'll be just in time with a unique gift for the holidays.

Well, that does it for us this Tuesday night.

Join us next time for a fresh look inside the stories.

Who knew it would would come to pass?

Johnny Spezzano of the border joins us in the kitchen for a healthy fire grilled meal to kick off the new year and discover the history of Boxing Day in Canada.

It's a holiday that originated in Britain.

Meantime, if you have a story idea you'd like us to explore, we'd love to learn more.

Drop us an email at wpbsweekly@wpbstv.org and let's share it with the region.

That's it for now.

Have a safe night everyone.

We'll see you next episode.

Take care.

- [Announcer] "WPBS Weekly Inside The Stories" is brought to you by the Watertown Oswego Small Business Development Center, a free resource offering confidential business advice for those interested in starting or expanding their small business, serving Jefferson, Lewis and Oswego Counties since 1986.

Online at watertown.nysbdc.org.

Additional funding provided by the JM McDonald Foundation, the Estate of Grant Mitchell, the Dr. D. Susan Badenhausen Legacy Fund of the Northern New York Community Foundation and the New York State Education Department.

(bright festive music)