Christmas in the South : Holiday Stories from the South's Best Writers

Rating:
Summary: Christmas in the South
Review: I am sorry to report that Christmas in the South did not live up to my expectations. I was looking forward to some cozy Christmas stories but unfortunately, most of the stories left me wondering what the point or message was. Perhaps if read in a classroom or discussion setting, more could be gained from reading this collection, but for the reader looking for some feel-good, cozy Christmas stories, this might not be the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: Buy something else
Review: I love a good collection of Christmas stories. I usually get a book of this type every year around mid December to read. It doesn't always have to be one of those "make you feel good" books or "Its a Wonderful Life" type of story. I loved Skipping Christmas, the Time Piece, the Christmas Box (I think that was the name of it). Christmas in the South is a wonderful collection of short stories from Southern writers, but they have little or nothing to do with Christmas or even winter for that matter. Many of the short stories, like those you read in High School and College, leave you confused at the end and are worthy of group discussions to figure out exactly what (if anything) the writer was wanting to tell us. I will not be buying or even borrowing its sequel. I wish I had used the money I had spent on it to buy some other Christmas story.

Rating:
Summary: Real Life at Christmas
Review: Sure, Christmas is eggnog, gifts, desserts galore, choirs singing carols, and families coming together to bask in each other's company. Christmas is my favorite season, and I appreciate it for all of these reasons and more...however, often the eggnog is spiked without prior notification, the unstylish shirts from your grandmother don't fit and have to be returned, the desserts pack on an unwanted five pounds, the choirs sing off key, and the out-of-town guests who have stayed at your house for three days too long already show no sign of budging. This, too, is Christmas, real life at Christmas. The particular strength of McCord and Tucker's collection, as with their past collections, is that they do not overly romanticize a holiday which is simultaneously the best and the worst of times for so many of us each year. With humor, pathos, joy, reverence, irreverence, spontaneity, and some of the finest creative writing ever done on this particular theme, the editors render a balanced account of Christmas with its ups and downs, laughter and tears, to which most any real person can and will easily relate. This book is a must have for those who appreciate the holiday for all that it is, for all that it really is.