A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world.Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843).
Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it.Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843). He lights one candle to save money.
External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge.Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843).
He knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843).
I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy.Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843). Scrooge on Christmas morning.
"I don't know what day of the month it is!" said Scrooge.Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843). He wakes on Christmas morning.
I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843). Scrooge's promise.
It was a Turkey! He never could have stood upon his legs, that bird.Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843). The prize turkey Scrooge sends to the Cratchits.
Show all 52 quotes (44 more)
A Christmas Carol, continued
Keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine.Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843). Scrooge to his nephew.
Mankind was my business.Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843). Marley's ghost, on what he should have cared about.
Marley was dead: to begin with.Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843). The first words of the story.
Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grind-stone, Scrooge!Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843). Tight-fisted means unwilling to spend.
Oh, a wonderful pudding!Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843).
Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843).
Once upon a time—of all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eve—old Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house.Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843).
Scrooge was better than his word.Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843).
There never was such a goose.Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843). The Cratchits' Christmas dinner.
The Night Before Christmas 11
Away to the window I flew like a flash, tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.Clement Clarke Moore, A Visit from St. Nicholas. A sash is the sliding part of a window.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugar-plums danced in their headsClement Clarke Moore, A Visit from St. Nicholas. A sugar-plum is a small round candy.
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-nightClement Clarke Moore, A Visit from St. Nicholas. The last line.
He had a broad face and a little round belly, that shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jellyClement Clarke Moore, A Visit from St. Nicholas.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, and filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerkClement Clarke Moore, A Visit from St. Nicholas.
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, and away they all flew like the down of a thistleClement Clarke Moore, A Visit from St. Nicholas. Thistle down is the fluff that carries its seeds.
His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples how merry! His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!Clement Clarke Moore, A Visit from St. Nicholas.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow gave the lustre of mid-day to objects belowClement Clarke Moore, A Visit from St. Nicholas. Lustre means shine.
Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen! On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!Clement Clarke Moore, A Visit from St. Nicholas. The eight reindeer, as this edition spells them.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be thereClement Clarke Moore, A Visit from St. Nicholas.
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouseClement Clarke Moore, A Visit from St. Nicholas. The opening lines.
Songs 7
All the stockings you will find hanging in a row; mine will be the shortest one; you'll be sure to know.Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, as the song was printed in 1881.
Dashing through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh o'er the fields we go laughing all the wayJames Lord Pierpont, Jingle Bells (1857), first sung as The One Horse Open Sleigh.
Deck the hall with boughs of holly, 'tis the season to be jollyThomas Oliphant, Deck the Hall (1862), English words to a Welsh tune. Boughs are branches.
Fast away the old year passes, hail the new, ye lads and lasses!Thomas Oliphant, Deck the Hall (1862).
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way; oh! what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh.James Lord Pierpont, the chorus of Jingle Bells (1857).
Jolly old Saint Nicholas, lean your ear this way; don't you tell a single soul what I'm going to sayJolly Old Saint Nicholas, as the song was printed in 1881; it grew from an 1865 poem by Emily Huntington Miller.
When the clock is striking twelve, when I'm fast asleep, down the chimney broad and black with your pack you'll creepJolly Old Saint Nicholas, as the song was printed in 1881.
Stories and a Famous Letter 14
"A team of ten reindeer!" cried Claus, delightedly.L. Frank Baum, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. In this story the sledge has ten reindeer.
And numerous indeed are the hearts to which Christmas brings a brief season of happiness and enjoyment.Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers.
"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.Louisa May Alcott, Little Women. The first sentence of the book.
The days flew by, as they always fly in holiday time, and it was Christmas eve before anybody knew it.Kate Douglas Wiggin, The Birds' Christmas Carol.
Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish daysCharles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers.
He loved his work and he loved the brisk night ride on his sledge and the gay tinkle of the sleigh-bells.L. Frank Baum, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus.
I wish it was Christmas or New Year's all the time.Louisa May Alcott, Little Women.
"I wish they would all hang up their stockings," he thought, as he drove to the next chimney.L. Frank Baum, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus.
Life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.O. Henry, The Gift of the Magi, in The Four Million. Predominating means winning out.
Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.Francis Pharcellus Church, in the same New York Sun editorial of 1897.
Of all the old festivals, however, that of Christmas awakens the strongest and most heartfelt associations.Washington Irving, The Sketch-Book.
One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all.O. Henry, The Gift of the Magi, in The Four Million. The first words of the story.
There is something in the very season of the year that gives a charm to the festivity of Christmas.Washington Irving, The Sketch-Book.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa ClausFrancis Pharcellus Church, in a New York Sun editorial of 1897 answering a letter from eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon.
Poems 3
At Christmas I no more desire a rose than wish a snow in May's new-fangled showsWilliam Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost. Each thing is best in its own season.
Heap on more wood! the wind is chill; but let it whistle as it will, we'll keep our Christmas merry still.Walter Scott, Marmion (1808), the opening of the sixth canto.
I heard the bells on Christmas Day their old, familiar carols playHenry Wadsworth Longfellow, Christmas Bells.
How this list was compiled: Every line was matched word for word on 2026-09-30 against the text it comes from. Project Gutenberg plain-text editions (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/N, where N is): 46 Dickens, A Christmas Carol; 17135 Moore, A Visit from St. Nicholas; 514 Alcott, Little Women; 2048 Irving, The Sketch-Book; 580 Dickens, The Pickwick Papers; 2776 O. Henry, The Four Million; 520 Baum, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus; 721 Wiggin, The Birds' Christmas Carol; 100 Shakespeare, Complete Works; 1365 Longfellow, Complete Poetical Works; 4010 Scott, Marmion. The song lines and the 1897 newspaper letter were matched the same day against the words quoted in the English Wikipedia articles Jingle Bells, Deck the Halls, Jolly Old Saint Nicholas and Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus (https://en.wikipedia.org/). Verse is printed as running text with line-opening capitals lowered. Every named author died before 1929; the years were read from the Project Gutenberg catalog pages and the same Wikipedia articles. The one-line notes are our own. Licence: own work
How it works
Each Christmas cryptogram hides a line from an old book, poem or song: Scrooge on Christmas morning, the reindeer by name, the chorus of Jingle Bells. Two letters are given to start.
Read the full guide
Christmas lines in five groups
A Christmas Carol gives 17 lines, from Marley was dead to the prize turkey. The Night Before Christmas gives 11, the reindeer roll call among them. Songs holds Jingle Bells, Deck the Hall and Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. Stories and a Famous Letter runs from Little Women to the 1897 newspaper answer to eight-year-old Virginia. Three poems close the list.
Where to start
A lone code letter is A or I. After an apostrophe, try S or T. A nine-letter word whose fifth and last letters match is probably CHRISTMAS, and that one guess gives you eight letters.
These Christmas cryptograms keep their old spellings: Dickens writes honour, and the poem names two reindeer Donder and Blitzen.
For mixed ages, open More options after a puzzle and give 3 letters at the start for younger solvers, 0 for the quickest.
Questions and answers
Is there a Christmas cryptogram free printable?
Yes. Print puzzle gives a worksheet with the coded line and an A to Z tracker grid, and the answer key on a second page. Untick Print the answer key too, in More options after a solve, to leave it off.
Where do the lines come from?
All 52 are by authors who died before 1929. Each was matched word for word on 30 September 2026 against a Project Gutenberg text or, for the songs and the 1897 letter, the words quoted in Wikipedia. The source shows when you solve one.
Why does the puzzle say Donder and not Donner?
The Project Gutenberg edition of A Visit from St. Nicholas that these lines were checked against prints Donder and Blitzen, so the puzzle does too.
Does every puzzle use the same code?
No. Each press of New puzzle shuffles a new key in which no letter stands for itself, so a line you have met before comes back in a different code.