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Deck the halls
Books to spread Christmas cheer year after year REVIEWS BY LINDA STANKARD Are your jingle bells already jangled? Has "Bah, humbug!" already crossed your lips? Relax. A little hot cocoa, a quiet corner and a merry book will turn your Grinchy grin into a 'tis-the-season smile. We've checked out a stocking full of new Christmas releases and selected a few of the best to brighten your spirits.
By Bob Artley Pelican, $23.95 96 pages, ISBN 1589801083
A Southern-style holiday
Edited by Judy H. Tucker and Charline R. McCord Algonquin, $15.95 232 pages, ISBN 1565123832
Lights, camera, Christmas!
By David Seidman Storey, $16.95 180 pages, ISBN 1580175082
On Santa's knee
By Ed Butchart Revell, $15.99 224 pages, ISBN 0800718143
Bring us some figgy pudding
Edited by Natasha Tabori Fried and Lena Tabori Welcome, $24.95 240 pages, ISBN 0941807274
Linda Stankard admits to making her own mincemeat one jangled Christmas.
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If the hectic pace of the modern holiday season gets you down, Bob Artley's Christmas on the Farm
will transport you back to a simpler place and time. Growing up on an Iowa farm in the 1920s, Artley lived without electricity or
indoor plumbing, but the smell of mincemeat pie baking in the big black cookstove and the happy music of sleigh bells brought warmth
and cheer to his young heart. This engaging childhood reminiscence comes alive through Artley's numerous watercolor illustrations.
From gathering wood and hauling water to the pastoral quiet of a "silent night" scene, his work depicts both the hardships of rural
life and its awe-inspiring humble beauty. Despite the onslaught of chores and the biting cold of Iowa winters, Artley looks back
with joy and gratitude for Christmases full of handmade gifts, a fresh-cut tree strung with popcorn and the closeness of family
and friends.
Support your 
With your sentiments suitably primed,
A Very Southern Christmas: Holiday Stories from the South's Best Writers, edited by Judy H. Tucker and Charline R. McCord,
should move you even further along the road to a jolly Christmas. These 10 short stories by gifted Southern writers, including Lee
Smith and Robert Olen Butler, take you into the lives of an array of characters struggling to make peace with their own conflicted
selves, their less-than-perfect relatives and the wider world. Without overdoing the Christmas cheer, each story manages to touch
on some aspect of the hope, disappointment, joy and pathos the season can evoke. In "Deputy Sid's Gift," author Tim Gautreaux makes
only one reference to the holiday: "One day after Christmas my wife, Monette, told me to get rid of the tree and the holiday junk,
so I went to crank the truck." Despite the lack of holly and mistletoe, this soul-searching story speaks volumes about the true
nature of giving. Adorned by Wyatt Waters' graceful watercolors, this compact volume would make a great little gift itself.
For a book guaranteed to brighten your perspective, try Holiday Lights! Brilliant Displays to Inspire Your Holiday Celebration,
by David Seidman. This glittering celebration of holiday light displays across America captures the wonder and whimsy of these
annual eye-catching creations. Seidman's text is augmented with photos of holiday night magic, from remote trailers illuminated
by a single strand of colored lights to whole city blocks brilliantly alight. These images are visually stunning, but Holiday Lights
isn't just a pictorial journey—it also includes practical advice on setting up your own displays and taking "ooh and ahh" photos of lights at night. The book ends with a list of the most bedazzling holiday spectacles across the country and information on light suppliers and other resources.
If you think Santa is a jolly old elf, consider this statistic: "Seventy-five percent of children from eleven months old
to age three scream and cry at the sight of Santa." Ed Butchart learned this fact the hard way during his 13 years as
a professional Santa, donning his red suit and listening for weeks on end as children divulged their Christmas hopes and
dreams. Butchart spills a few secrets of his own in the funny and inspiring
memoir The Red Suit Diaries, a behind-the-scenes peek at the life of a shopping mall Santa. Of the thousands of children placed on his knee each season, Butchart finds that some are screamers, some are kickers, some are "Mama climbers," and some are perfectly adorable. Despite the trials, he manages to keep his Christmas spirit intact, using his position to reflect the love and joy inherent in the season.
The Christmas Almanac, edited by Natasha Tabori Fried and Lena Tabori, has a little bit of everything you could
possibly want to know about the holiday season. Need a holiday bedtime story for the little ones or a refresher course
in making paper snowflakes? Want to know the difference between a Balsam Fir and a Douglas Fir, or find out what Santa
is called in other countries? Stuffed like Santa's overflowing pack with a miscellany of stories, poems, carols, recipes,
holiday trivia, and more, this treasure trove, complete with fanciful Victorian-inspired illustrations, holds a little
something for kids of all ages. But remember, just because you now have access to a recipe for figgy pudding doesn't
mean you have to run out and find beef suet and currants and launch into production. The recipe will be there, the book
can be turned to time and again, and Christmas comes but once a year, so keep it simple—and enjoy!