The J.A. Farley General Post Office, processing center for letters

addressed to Santa Claus, North Pole (as noted in Miracle on 34th Street)

"Sigrid Tang says that there is also a belief that if anyone dares steal away

into the darkness on Christmas night and gaze through the windows,

he will be able to see the persons who are going to die during the whole

year to come, sitting headless in their chairs. There is, however, great

danger in being out of doors on this night, for one might be seized and

carried away by the Oskereien. All through the Christmastime this horrible

and sinister cavalcade of unblessed spirits and ogres are believed to tear past

at a dizzy speed, trying to catch people and carry them away through the air."

-- from 1001 Christmas Facts and Fancies by Alfred Carl Hottes

'Remember, O thou man,

O thou man, O thou man,

Remember O thou man,

Thy time is spent:

Remember, O thou man,

How thou cam'st to me then,

And I did what I can,

Therefore repent.' 

from Remember, T.Ravenscroft, 1611

The Oxford Book of Carols, 1928

Days 'til Christmas