Thirteen-year-old Kittie Watson, a student attending the Female Academy at Cahawba, wrote this essay on Christmas in 1864, near the end of the Civil War. We reproduce it here out of historical interest, as it shows what was different about Christmas in the Black Belt over 150 years ago, and what is still familiar:
Christmas is the birthday of our Savior. It comes on the 25th of December. Christmas is a happy time for school girls, for then they have holiday. There is a great deal of pleasure in giving and receiving presents.
When we get up in the morning, the first thing we do is to peep into our stockings to see what Santa Claus has brought us, disappointed we are if they are filled with switches. Then comes breakfast, and the nice Eggnog, and then at dinner we have roast turkey; this is what we all used to have before the war, but I expect a great many of us will miss our roast turkey and Eggnog this year, and have our stockings filled with switches, as they are more plentiful than most anything else.
Some persons have Christmas trees for their children, and they look very pretty with their branches loaded with toys of all kinds, and lighted up with candles.
On Christmas Eve, Santa Claus pays us a visit. He rides in a sleigh drawn by six Reindeers, and he comes down the chimney with a bundle on his back, looking like a peddler, and fills our stockings with toys, candy, and a great many other nice things. I hope he has not forgotten the way to Cahaba, but will remember us all this year.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas.
Kittie E. Watson
November 15, 1864
