Tag: Christmas
In his book Feeling Like a Kid: Childhood and Children's Literature, Jerry Griswold explores five sensations particularly important in childhood. In the excerpt below, he examines “snugness” and its particular association with Christmas. “Cozy Time” Turning from space to time, we can note that there are certain occasions especially apt for an evocation of…
Guest post by Jerry Griswold "'Twas the night before Christmas" begins Clement Moore’s "A Visit from St. Nicholas," that immortal poem generally credited with popularizing Dutch customs (Santa and gift-giving) and shaping the American holiday as we know it. But, as I suggest in my study of American childhood classics called Audacious Kids, a case…
Guest post by Jerry Griswold "'Twas the night before Christmas" begins Clement Moore’s "A Visit from St. Nicholas," that immortal poem generally credited with popularizing Dutch customs (Santa and gift-giving) and shaping the American holiday as we know it. But, as I suggest in my study of American childhood classics called Audacious Kids, a case…
Guest post by Michael C. C. Adams To lighten the gloomy Civil War holiday season, printmakers and newspaper editors, such as Currier & Ives and Harper’s Weekly in the North, produced pictures emanating good cheer. Well-clad soldiers were shown clustered around wood fires in cosy log huts with tent roofs and barrel chimneys, sharing food…