{"id":61062,"date":"2025-12-24T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/?p=61062"},"modified":"2026-01-05T09:49:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T09:49:42","slug":"a-visit-from-st-packolas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/a-visit-from-st-packolas\/","title":{"rendered":"A Visit from St. Packolas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

‘Twas\u00a0the night before\u00a0Christmas,\u00a0and in the\u00a0OcUK\u00a0house\u00a0
\u00a0Not a\u00a0fan\u00a0was\u00a0whirring, not even a\u00a0gaming\u00a0mouse;\u00a0
\u00a0The stockings were hung\u00a0from powerhouse PCs\u00a0with care,\u00a0
\u00a0In hopes that St.\u00a0Packolas\u00a0soon would be there;\u00a0
\u00a0The\u00a0gamers\u00a0were nestled all snug in their\u00a0noblechairs;\u00a0
\u00a0Dreaming of loot drops that were at least legendary\u00a0rares;\u00a0
\u00a0And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,\u00a0
\u00a0Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,\u00a0
\u00a0When out on the lawn,\u00a0there arose such a clatter,\u00a0
\u00a0I sprang\u00a0from my\u00a0gaming chair\u00a0to see what\u00a0was the matter.\u00a0
\u00a0Away to the window I flew like a flash,\u00a0
\u00a0Tore\u00a0open\u00a0the\u00a0shutters and\u00a0threw\u00a0up the sash.\u00a0
\u00a0The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,\u00a0
\u00a0Gave a\u00a0lustre\u00a0of midday to objects below,\u00a0
\u00a0When what to my wondering eyes did appear,\u00a0
\u00a0But a\u00a0hench overclocked\u00a0sleigh and eight\u00a0rein-deer,\u00a0
\u00a0With a\u00a0swole\u00a0and youthful\u00a0driver so lively and quick,\u00a0
\u00a0I knew in a moment he must be St.\u00a0Pack.\u00a0
\u00a0More rapid than\u00a0overclocked\u00a0processors,\u00a0his coursers they came,\u00a0
\u00a0And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:\u00a0
\u00a0“Now,\u00a0Dasher!\u00a0now,\u00a0Dancer! now\u00a0Prancer\u00a0and\u00a0Vixen!\u00a0
\u00a0On,\u00a0Comet!\u00a0on,\u00a0Cupid!\u00a0on,\u00a0Donner\u00a0and\u00a0Blitzen!\u00a0
\u00a0To the top of the porch!\u00a0to\u00a0the top of the wall!\u00a0
\u00a0Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”\u00a0
\u00a0As leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,\u00a0
\u00a0When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;\u00a0
\u00a0So up to the housetop the coursers they flew\u00a0
\u00a0With\u00a0a\u00a0sleigh full of\u00a0hardware, and St.\u00a0Packolas\u00a0too\u2014\u00a0
\u00a0And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof\u00a0
\u00a0The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.\u00a0
\u00a0As I\u00a0took off\u00a0my headset, and was turning around,\u00a0
\u00a0Down the chimney St.\u00a0Packolas\u00a0came with a bound.\u00a0
\u00a0He was dressed all in fur, from\u00a0side to side,\u00a0
\u00a0And his clothes were all\u00a0tight around his arms so wide;\u00a0
\u00a0A bundle of\u00a0hardware\u00a0he had flung on his back,\u00a0
\u00a0Pulling our RGB-free gifts from the depths of his sack.\u00a0
\u00a0His eyes\u2014how they twinkled! his dimples, how merry!\u00a0
\u00a0His cheeks were like roses, his nose\u00a0like\u00a0a cherry!\u00a0
\u00a0His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,\u00a0
\u00a0And the\u00a0stubble\u00a0on his chin was\u00a0not quite\u00a0as\u00a0white as the snow;\u00a0
\u00a0A tube of thermal\u00a0paste\u00a0he held tight in his teeth,\u00a0
\u00a0And\u00a0spare cables\u00a0encircled his head like a wreath;\u00a0
\u00a0He had a broad face and a\u00a0rock-hard\u00a0belly\u00a0
\u00a0Though that did not\u00a0mean\u00a0he\u2019d\u00a0say no to a\u00a0bowl full of jelly.\u00a0
\u00a0He was\u00a0sculpted yet soft, a right jolly old elf,\u00a0
\u00a0And I laughed when I saw him,\u00a0in\u00a0spite of\u00a0myself;\u00a0
\u00a0A wink of his eye and a twist of his head\u00a0
\u00a0Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;\u00a0
\u00a0He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,\u00a0
\u00a0And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,\u00a0
\u00a0And laying his finger aside of his nose,\u00a0
\u00a0And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;\u00a0
\u00a0He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,\u00a0
\u00a0And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.\u00a0
\u00a0But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight\u2014\u00a0
\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHappy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"Ben<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"How<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"An<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘Twas\u00a0the night before\u00a0Christmas,\u00a0and in the\u00a0OcUK\u00a0house, Not a\u00a0fan\u00a0was\u00a0whirring, not even a\u00a0gaming\u00a0mouse…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":61068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1376],"tags":[6028,6029,2632,6027],"class_list":["post-61062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-overclockers-uk","tag-a-visit-from-saint-packolas","tag-christmas-poem","tag-merry-christmas","tag-the-night-before-christmas"],"yoast_head":"\nA Visit from St. Packolas | Overclockers UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"'Twas\u00a0the night before\u00a0Christmas,\u00a0and in the\u00a0OcUK\u00a0house, Not a\u00a0fan\u00a0was\u00a0whirring, not even a\u00a0gaming\u00a0mouse...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/a-visit-from-st-packolas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Visit from St. Packolas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"'Twas\u00a0the night before\u00a0Christmas,\u00a0and in the\u00a0OcUK\u00a0house, Not a\u00a0fan\u00a0was\u00a0whirring, not even a\u00a0gaming\u00a0mouse...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/a-visit-from-st-packolas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Overclockers UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OverclockersUK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-24T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-05T09:49:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/st-packolas-facebook.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"940\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"788\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jacob Smith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jacob Smith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Visit from St. Packolas | Overclockers UK","description":"'Twas\u00a0the night before\u00a0Christmas,\u00a0and in the\u00a0OcUK\u00a0house, Not a\u00a0fan\u00a0was\u00a0whirring, not even a\u00a0gaming\u00a0mouse...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/a-visit-from-st-packolas\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Visit from St. Packolas","og_description":"'Twas\u00a0the night before\u00a0Christmas,\u00a0and in the\u00a0OcUK\u00a0house, Not a\u00a0fan\u00a0was\u00a0whirring, not even a\u00a0gaming\u00a0mouse...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/a-visit-from-st-packolas\/","og_site_name":"Overclockers UK","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OverclockersUK","article_published_time":"2025-12-24T12:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-05T09:49:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":940,"height":788,"url":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/st-packolas-facebook.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Jacob Smith","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jacob Smith","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/a-visit-from-st-packolas\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/a-visit-from-st-packolas\/"},"author":{"name":"Jacob Smith","@id":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1896bfab1980997a84067886beb45380"},"headline":"A Visit from St. Packolas","datePublished":"2025-12-24T12:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-05T09:49:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/a-visit-from-st-packolas\/"},"wordCount":557,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/a-visit-from-st-packolas\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/st-packolas-twitter.png","keywords":["A Visit From Saint Packolas","Christmas Poem","Merry Christmas","The Night Before Christmas"],"articleSection":["Overclockers UK"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/a-visit-from-st-packolas\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/a-visit-from-st-packolas\/","url":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/a-visit-from-st-packolas\/","name":"A Visit from St. Packolas | Overclockers UK","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/a-visit-from-st-packolas\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/a-visit-from-st-packolas\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/st-packolas-twitter.png","datePublished":"2025-12-24T12:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-05T09:49:42+00:00","description":"'Twas\u00a0the night before\u00a0Christmas,\u00a0and in the\u00a0OcUK\u00a0house, Not a\u00a0fan\u00a0was\u00a0whirring, not even a\u00a0gaming\u00a0mouse...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/a-visit-from-st-packolas\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/a-visit-from-st-packolas\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/a-visit-from-st-packolas\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/st-packolas-twitter.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/st-packolas-twitter.png","width":1600,"height":900,"caption":"A Visit from St. Packolas"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/a-visit-from-st-packolas\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"All Articles","item":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/category\/all-articles\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Overclockers UK","item":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/category\/all-articles\/overclockers-uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"A Visit from St. Packolas"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/","name":"Overclockers UK","description":"Hardware Reviews, Tech Insights & Gaming","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/#organization"},"alternateName":"OcUK","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/#organization","name":"Overclockers UK","alternateName":"OcUK","url":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/cropped-327446719_753385363068230_8153189674231811185_n.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/cropped-327446719_753385363068230_8153189674231811185_n.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Overclockers UK"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OverclockersUK","https:\/\/x.com\/OverclockersUK","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/overclockersuk\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCud6FdmA_PnmAxGMdk2GAKQ","https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@overclockersuk"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1896bfab1980997a84067886beb45380","name":"Jacob Smith","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dd32fb5aa479b9f533d814600555af924cd62c53cac3445cac7ceb51bb0b7750?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dd32fb5aa479b9f533d814600555af924cd62c53cac3445cac7ceb51bb0b7750?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dd32fb5aa479b9f533d814600555af924cd62c53cac3445cac7ceb51bb0b7750?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jacob Smith"},"description":"Jacob is a passionate gamer, plus a noted Pokemon and LEGO nutjob, who emerges only when doing the words here at Overclockers UK. Since starting at the tail end of 2021, Jacob has gone on to write dozens of blogs on everything from the latest games to whimsical Dickens-inspired poetry. Outside of creating content and being the one person in the office daring to champion Nintendo, he is often found fawning over his Pokemon card collection and his trio of lovely doggos.","url":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/author\/jacob-smith\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61062"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61073,"href":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61062\/revisions\/61073"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}