American Christmases : firsthand accounts of holiday happenings from early days to modern times by Martell, Joanne, 1926- instant download

American Christmases : firsthand accounts of holiday happenings from early days to modern times by Martell, Joanne, 1926- instant download

319 pages : 19 cm, From Captain John Smith's description of his visit to a native village in 1608 to Major Carrie Acree's letter from Iraq in 2004, American Christmases offers firsthand impressions of the Christmas season a told in letters, journals, memoirs, newspaper articles, poems, songs, and advertisements. Passages from well-known people include Daniel Boone describing his Christmas as an Indian captive in 1769; George Washington begging for congressional assistance for his starving Continental Army troops at Christmas in 1777; Edith Wharton writing about an 1895 Christmas party at George Vanderbilt's North Carolina estate; and secret service agent Edmund Starling telling about President Woodrow Wilson's secret Christmas honeymoon. However, some of the most moving entries come from ordinary people. Father Paul O'Connor, a Jesuit missionary in Alaska, remembers a special Christmas gift he gave to an \"Eskimo lass of ten\" in 1954. Army Specialist Don Odam describes a surreal experience in the Saudi Arabian desert during Operation Desert Storm at Christmas in 1990. By reading these 250 entries, you'll see how the role of Santa Claus has changed through the centuries, how the Christmas tree became a symbol of the season, and how America's celebration of Christmas has evolved over 400 years. - Publisher, Includes bibliographical references (pages 302-315) and index, 1600s -- 1700s -- 1800-1850 -- 1851-1864 -- 1865-1899 -- 1900-1940 -- 1941-2004 -- Epilogue