Christmas in the South
Christmas Comes but Twice a Year: Old Christmas in the Outer Banks
Rodanthe, North Carolina
Visit North Carolina’s Outer Banks around the end of December, and you’ll find that Christmas comes not once a year, but twice
Christmas in Florida: Saint Augustine’s Festive Lights and Sights
Saint Augustine, Florida
Despite the lack of very conventional Christmas-y weather, Florida has plenty of Christmas traditions all its own
General Lee and Santa Claus
Lee was a shrewd general, yes, but also a kindhearted man with a love for children—as well as, apparently, a personal acquaintance with good ol’ St. Nick himself!
The Art of Southern Christmas: Part One
Ever wonder why we put citrus in our stockings? Why the Outer Banks celebrate Christmas twelve days late? Find the history behind five of the South’s most perplexing Christmas traditions here.
5 Southern Christmas Light Displays You Can’t Miss
Austin, Texas; Louisville, Kentucky; Richmond, Virginia; McAdenville, North Carolina; St. Augustine, Florida
From Texas to Florida, the South is all lit up with Christmas. Here are five of the Christmas-lights best!
The Poinsettia’s Southern Progenitor
Greenville, South Carolina
When Joel Roberts Poinsett, an American diplomat and botanist on assignment in Mexico, first sighted a roadside poinsettia in 1828, he immediately sent cuttings back to his greenhouse in Greenville. The rest is history.
The Homecoming: The Waltons’ Christmas Eve Story
Schuyler, Virginia
A whole generation of Americans grew to love the stories of a Virginia family during the Great Depression after the showing of this Christmas movie
Citrus Christmas: A Sweet Southern Tradition
For generations, stretching back further than our history books, we Southerners have filled our Christmas stockings with sweet, seasonal citrus. But why?
Give ’Em Food: Food Gifts for Christmas
Montgomery, Alabama
When you share the fruits of your labor with someone, it means so much more than anything you could have bought
Tradition and Taste: An Appalachian Christmas Breakfast
Flag Pond, Tennessee; Marshall, North Carolina
In 2013, my 82-year-old mother looked at her Christmas morning plate and said, “I’ve eaten this same meal on this same day for eighty consecutive years.”
Lighting the Way for Papa Noel: St. James’s Bonfire Capital of the World
Gramercy, Louisiana
Who needs electricity? Nobody lights up Christmas quite like the river folk of southern Louisiana
Christmas at an American Castle
Asheville, North Carolina
The Biltmore is unquestionably the closest America has come to a palace, and there’s no time like the holidays to visit this grand home