Christmas in Texas: Volume 3 (The Clayton Wheat Williams Texas life series) - Hardcover

"Anyone who has ever been given the task of presenting a program about Christmas celebrations during the early years of . . . settlement in Texas knows that the assignment isn't as simple as it sounds. In the future, however, it will be much easier, thanks to a new book by Elizabeth Silverthorne. . . . Christmas in Texas isn't about buying gifts that cost more than you can afford, to give to people who don't particularly want them. It's about the wide range of Christmas customs and experiences, old-fashioned recipes and reminiscences of those who lived in Texas long before the era of twinkle lights, Barbie doll convertibles, and Nintendo games. . . . It is `Texanized' by the personal recollections of Christmases past."--Marie Beth Jones

Why do people kiss under the mistletoe? Is Santa Claus actually Turkish? And just what is lutefisk anyway? The answers to those questions and more lie between the covers of this beautiful volume. Christmas in Texas shows how Texans have celebrated Christmas over four centuries, during good times and bad. The Texas holiday season is steeped in the rich legacy of the different ethnic groups represented here. The music, the food, the decorations, the secular fun and frolic have been imported to Texas by land and by sea, often as the nostalgic efforts of homesick immigrants to recreate memories of past Christmases in their homelands. Elizabeth Silverthorne paints pictures of the different ethnic groups that have settled in Texas, showing what they kept uniquely theirs as well as what they changed to adapt to their new home. Walnuts had to be replaced in holiday cooking by Texas pecans, and the traditional fir Christmas tree gave way to the abundant Hill Country cedar. We follow Las Posadas along the Riverwalk in San Antonio, predict the future with Poles and Czechs, shoot the anvil on the frontier, and go first-footing with the Scots. Recipes throughout add ethnic flavors, from Wendish coffee cake to Yugoslavian Christmas bread, from well-known buttermilk pie to exotic zabaglione. Families today will look to this beautiful volume annually as they enjoy holiday traditions passed down to them. Ideal for reading and giving, it also will appeal to those who want to reminisce about the old ways, and those who want to learn more about their heritage and the holidays.