For y'all's information, and with no intention at all of being a Grinch on this day, I offer the following:
"As Foster relives in
Author Unknown, 'The Night Before Christmas' was first published without attribution in 1823. Years later, Moore was mistakenly credited with the poem, and he did nothing to alter that thinking, according to Foster's research.
Foster says a major reason that Moore was allowed to steal 'The Night Before Christmas' was the simple fact that 'he was a Bible professor and a Bible professor wouldn't lie.'
It was up to Foster, then, to determine why Moore, like a 19th-century Grinch, would claim the rights to the story. He says he found evidence, and he offers his conclusions in
Author Unknown. 'Moore was a man who was pretty vain,' says Foster. 'He never felt that he got enough credit for anything. And the one thing he got credit for was this poem that he didn't write, and it made him pretty famous.'"
http://www.cnn.com/2000/books/news/12/06/foster.anonymous/Ho, ho, ho! 
