Christmas in New England: A Treasury of Traditions, from the Yule Log and the Christmas Tree to Flying Santa and the Enchanted Village

By Amy Whorf McGuiggan

This history of the holiday is an endless delight, with stories about all your favorite Christmas traditions, from Mystic to Maine, the Berkshires to Boston. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1889833983
• ISBN13: 9781889833989
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Commonwealth Editions
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 1.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 7.1" x 9.9"

Customer Reviews

Christmas In New England

I purchased two orders of 12 each. I belong to Women's Seafarers Friend Society and our ladies wanted copies of the book. We heard from the chaplain of New England Seafarers Mission that we were featured in the book, noting the 2005 ditty bag total of 1800 bags for the seafarers. This year we filled 1836 bags. The ladies were thrilled we are mentioned in a book about Christmas. I found the balance of the book very informative and heart warming. Thank you for carrying this book.

A wonderful multi-faceted celebration any holiday enthusiast will love.

Some fifty New England holiday regional traditions are gathered in a survey fit for either residents or ex-natives of the region, making for a lovely holiday celebration. From different interpretations of Santa - the flying version versus Secret Santa - to Christmas traditions in city and countryside and even historic holiday celebrations, Christmas in New England is a wonderful multi-faceted celebration any holiday enthusiast will love. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

A little bit of everything Christmas

This book covers every kind of Christmas topics and gives meaty stories behind them. I especially like the stories that include recipes like the Chirstmas pudding recipe and I think of many of the stories as mini travelogues and history lessons that come in a most palatable form. I think this would be a great book for the family to hold on to and try to visit one of the places or events described in the book every year. It would also help instill in children that Christmas is not just something invented to sell toys :) McGuiggan has an easy to read style and combines alot of information in one book.

Sweet Memories of the Past

McGuiggan has done a wonderful job collecting stories about New England Christmases, from James Van Alen's annual reading of "A Visit from St. Nicholas" at Clement C. Moore's Newport home to the "Flying Santa" who dropped gifts to the lighthouse families before the days of automated lights, from the beginnings of Christmas emerging in Puritan-bastion Massachusetts to events in the new century. Enhanced with old photos and advertisements. Just one question: does she plan a sequel? That's the only reason I can figure for writing a book about Christmas in New England and not including Edaville Railroad's annual Christmas rides! If this will be the linchpin of a second collection of Yuletide memories, I'm all for it!