Nancy's Southern Christmas by Maud Van Buren

Name: Nancy's Southern Christmas
Author: Maud Van Buren

“Nancy’s Southern Christmas” follows the Murtrie family’s first Christmas after financial loss has brought them from the North to a ranch on the Texas prairie. Accustomed to snow, church bells, familiar holiday gifts, and a traditional turkey dinner, Nancy feels that Christmas cannot be real amid warm weather, roses, prairie loneliness, and the absence of shops or money. Reflecting on what Christmas truly means, Nancy decides that it is not dependent on snow, presents, or northern customs, but on gladness for Christ’s coming and on making others happy. She begins secretly arranging gifts from the materials and creatures available around the ranch. With Johnny and a man from the range, she polishes huge horns and a mesquit root into an elaborate chair for her father. She plaits tall grasses into a work-basket for her mother, restores her old doll for Bessie, obtains a baby fox for Johnny, buys two brilliant canarios for Marnie with her last piece of silver, and finds a horned toad for Robby. She also prepares raisins, molasses candy, and pecan-nuts for the stockings, planning to decorate the room with roses instead of Christmas green. As Christmas Eve arrives, the family’s happiness is threatened by Mr. Murtrie’s failure to return from a hunting-trip. Their anxiety grows until he suddenly comes home carrying a wild turkey, determined that they should have a Christmas feast. While Nancy sleeps, her mother makes her a feather fan from the turkey’s wings. During the night Nancy and Johnny place the gifts, and on Christmas morning each family member receives the present Nancy has devised. Johnny embraces his fox, Bessie her doll, Marnie enjoys her birds, Mrs. Murtrie fills her basket with sewing things, and Mr. Murtrie rests in his horn-and-mesquit chair. Nancy receives the feather fan. Outside, a norther brings an unexpected fall of soft silver snow, completing for Nancy the sense that the spirit of Christmas has reached even her southern home.

By Maud Van Buren · First published 1927 · Genre: Children's Christmas Fiction, Children's Literature, Domestic Fiction · 3,400 words

First lines

_Harriet Prescott Spofford_

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What this Textopian page supports

Nancy's Southern Christmas is listed on Textopian as a short story by Maud Van Buren, dated 1927 CE.

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Work type: Short story
Author: Maud Van Buren
Date: 1927 CE
Language: English
Genres: Children's Christmas Fiction, Children's Literature, Domestic Fiction, Sentimental Fiction, Regional Fiction
Length: 3,400 words
Structure: 1 section, 25 paragraphs
Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)

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Work identity for Nancy's Southern Christmas by Maud Van Buren
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Similar titles

Genres

Children's Christmas Fiction — The story centers on a family's efforts to create a meaningful Christmas celebration after relocating to rural Texas, emphasizing stockings, gifts, holiday food, family rituals, and Christmas morning.
Children's Literature — Its child-focused perspective, accessible moral development, family setting, lively animal details, and emphasis on youthful initiative align it strongly with literature written for young readers.
Domestic Fiction — The plot is primarily concerned with household life: financial hardship, family affection, homemade gifts, parental worry, sibling relationships, and the restoration of comfort within the home.
Sentimental Fiction — The narrative uses emotionally warm scenes of homesickness, sacrifice, reunion, family gratitude, and the final snowfall to produce a deliberately tender and uplifting effect.