The Mouse
Actually, the lack of a mouse or any other creature stirring intensifies the imagery of the house being quiet prior to St. Nick’s arrival. It is Christmas Eve, according to the opening words preceding this imagery. The Christmas carol “Silent Night” had only just been publicly performed for the first time about five years or so before the publication of this poem and was extremely popular and its title refers explicitly to Christmas Eve. So the lack of creatures stirring symbolizes the religious aspect of the holiday.
Sugar Plums
Even experts have a hard time identifying exactly what a sugar plum refers to literally, but every indication is that they were confection whose availability were limited both naturally by access to the plum part and economically by the fact that they were only intended for special occasions. Thus the sugar plums which the children dream about is a symbolic foreshadowing of all the very special treats, delicacies, and food items which are generally reserved for holidays.
Donder and Blitzen
Donder and Blitzen started out as Dunder and Blixem. Every indication points to an intention by someone—either of the two men who may be the actual original writer of the poem, or subsequent editors—instill a certain mythic power to the reindeer through their names. The last two reindeer have much more distinctly German names than the other and Donder and Blitzen are intended to be translated as thunder and lightning, thus symbolizing the inhuman abilities of the animals.
Chimney
No doubt that crawling down a chimney during winter when fireplaces would be expected to be flowing with the heat warming entire households seems like an ill-conceived part of Santa’s plan. This particular route into and out of houses symbolizes the still rather new prevalence of domestic smokestacks in all but the richest homes. It symbolizes both the Victorian Era in which so much of the iconic Christmas celebration originated as well as the democratic spirit of St. Nick: most homes in English-speaking industrialized nations did not even have a backdoor at the time, but almost all had a chimney.
Stockings
The opening imagery of stockings hung by the chimney aptly symbolizes the changing nature of Santa’s annual circumnavigation as an identifying element of Christmas. Although he carries a “bundle of toys” down the chimney with him, these should be thought of the type of small hand-crafted toys of the time. Notice that there is not even a tree in the house. This is because that tradition had yet not made its way in full across Channel to England from Germany and then over the Atlantic to the Americas. Everything that a child could dare to dream of finding on Christmas Day could fit inside this type of long stocking. Essentially, they have come to symbolize the commercialization of Christmas.
