Christmas Memories from Mississippi

This beautiful book of thirty-eight essays, illustrated by Mississippi's premier watercolorist Wyatt Waters, will ring true with treasured recollections of Christmases past. Remember the Christmas it snowed on the Mississippi Coast? Glen Allison recalls that miracle. Richard Ford and Waters tell exactly what they felt when they first laid eyes on a bicycle left under the tree by Santa Claus. These Mississippians celebrate Christmas pageants, the decorating, the family dinnersueven as they recognize war and loss as part of our lives and sometimes part of our holidays. Christmas Memories from Mississippi looks at the holidays from the early twentieth century through the present and offers the celebrations from various points of view, both religious and secular. This book makes an ideal memento of shared traditions and lovingly extends the spirit of the season across the state's diversity.

With essays by Glen C. Allison, Mary Anderson, Maude Williams Ballou, Patti Carr Black, Lottie Brent Boggan, Billy G. Bridges, Freda McKissic Bush, Jerry Lee Bustin, Will D. Campbell, John M. Floyd, Richard Ford, Chris Gilmer, Bishop Duncan Gray III, Carolyn Haines, Beverly Wade Hogan, Walter Howell, Richard Howorth, Caroline Langston, Beverly Lowry, Bill Luckett, Beverly Marshall, Charline R. McCord, Margaret McMullan, Mary Ann Mobley, Mary Libby Payne, Ronnie Riggs, Maureen Ryan, Dorothy Shawhan, Michael F. Smith, Seetha Srinivasan, Judy H. Tucker, Wyatt Waters, Robin Whitfield, Lester Senter Wilson, Oprah Winfrey, Elise Winter, John M. Yarborough, and Steve Yarbrough

Charline R. McCord of Clinton, Mississippi, is Training and Technical Assistance Coordinator for the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention's Southeast Regional Expert Team.
Judy H. Tucker works as a freelance editor and lives in Jackson, Mississippi.