Southern Fried Christmas Stories

I often discover the best books while walking past our library’s holding shelves. Since they are located next to our staff work room, I peruse these shelves several times every day. Whether it is a cleverly-worded title or a splashy cover, the little gems that I find are always worth my time. Yesterday, a colorful Christmas book caught my eye. I was first attracted by the lovely illustration on the cover, but when I was close enough to read the title, I knew that I had to share this book with someone else! Titled The Official Guide to Christmas in the South Or, If You Can’t Fry It, Spraypaint It Gold and written by David C. Barnette, this book is a charming, hilarious guide to decorating your home for Christmas in the Southern style. The book teaches the reader how to avoid holiday pitfalls as well as how to navigate the “sometimes unspoken details of Southern etiquette.” Chapters such as “Christmas China and Therapy” and “The Divinity Code” offer tips on how to arrange your house for the holidays and create the perfect food for your large assortment of visitors during the holiday season. Although tongue-in-cheek, the book does offer some practical advice, such as which items you can safely “gild” (translation-spraypaint gold) and give as gifts as well as which presents you can safely “re-gift” and who you can give them to. Another humorous Christmas style guide is Ruby Ann Boxcar’s Move Over Santa—Ruby’s Doin’ Christmas! Ruby is a resident of the High Chaparral Trailer Park, whose book details how to prepare your trailer, inside and out, for the holiday season. The book is arranged by the days of Christmas (one through twelve) and includes recipes, crafts, and other facts about Christmas (did you know that in 1836 Alabama became the first state to declare Christmas a legal holiday?). If you are feeling overwhelmed by this holiday season, be sure and check-out these books yourself, for some laughter and great holiday stress-relief. I promise you won’t be disappointed!!