One Christmas in Old Tascosa

By Casandra Firman

Book Overview

It was Christmas time in Old Tascosa. The year was 1931-well into the Great Depression and on the brink of the worst days of the Dust Bowl. Tascosa, once a booming Wild West town complete with outlaws, cowboys, and gamblers, was all but deserted. Its only resident was Frenchie McCormick, a famous dance-hall girl from Tascosa's glory days. In 1931 she was a frail and lonely woman in her eighties, living in a tumble-down adobe shack and waiting for Tascosa to rise again. This story is about Tascosa, the Christmas pageant of 1931, and how twelve children, stranded in a one-room schoolhouse by an untimely blizzard, met Frenchie.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 089672588X
• ISBN13: 9780896725881
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Texas Tech University Press
• Length: 104 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Once Upon a Snowy Eve

One Christmas in Old Tascosa. By Casandra Firman as told by Quintille Speck-Firman Garmany. Foreword by Red Steagall and illustrated by Judy Wise. Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2006. xi, 90 pages. 2 photos, 12 illustrations ISBN 089672588X Tascosa now includes Cal Farley's Boy's Town. Before that it was the wild and wooly West with Indians, buffaloes, gunfights, cowboys, and dancehalls. Between the two, the town virtually went to the ghosts. But here is a sweet story from the interregnum. Garmany was a seven-year-old in 1931. The Depression Dust Bowl was on, but few would have realized it given how simple life was in Tascosa. Having more than one pencil was a student's wealth. At the time Tascosa's lone resident was Frenchie McCormick, an elderly woman with a dancing history and an honored wedding vow to remain in Tascosa. Nearby in a one-room school house Christmas was approaching and the children's Pageant was finally ready. And it was nearly, completely, absolutely wrecked. It wasn't the children, the building, the costumes, or even a too-playful dog. It snowed on the day before the evening's performance, so heavily that the audience could not come. Parents knew their children were okay with the teacher in the schoolhouse, but they could not get through the snow. And without an audience to love and smile over the Pageant's young performers, it would be a failure. Then through the blizzard, Frenchie McCormick was spotted coming through the deep snow. The children warmed Mrs. McCormick. She took her place among the chairs out front. And she loved the youngsters' presentation. And the children loved her for being there - just to see them. Red Steagall, a Texas poet laureate, and Richard O'Brien appends a song "Frenchie McCormick." Merry Christmas!

Not your typical Christmas story

There is a great "you are there" quality to this story, and the illustrations are wonderful. These events happened not that long ago, but it seems life another world. Reading this book maked me reflect on the "hardships" of my own life, and on the magic of one night in a young girl's life.

An Unusual Christmas Tale

This poignant Christmas memoir will appeal to children and adults. The historical element increases the interest and insures that this will be reread every December.

Incredible Story

Having known Quinn Garmany my entire life, I can honestly say that this is a truly amazing story. Worth reading and worth sharing!