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Home for Christmas: A Story of the South
In December 1865, determined to keep the two white children in his care out of the local orphanage, Isaiah, a freed slave, takes them from Memphis to Cumberland, Mississippi to find a new home with their uncle, now crippled and impoverished.
44 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1987
59 people want to read
About the author
Howard Bahr
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Howard Bahr (1946- ) is an American novelist, born in Meridian, Mississippi. Bahr, who served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War and then worked for several years on the railroads, enrolled at the University of Mississippi in the early 1970s when he was in his late 20s. He received his B.A. and M.A. from Ole Miss and served as the curator of the William Faulkner house, Rowan Oak, in Oxford, Mississippi for nearly twenty years. He also taught American literature during much of this time at the University of Mississippi. In 1993, he became an instructor of English at Motlow State College in Tullahoma, Tennessee, where he worked until 2006. Bahr is the author of three critically acclaimed novels centering around the American Civil War. He currently resides in Jackson, Mississippi, and teaches courses in creative writing at Belhaven College.
Bahr began his writing career in the 1970s, writing both fiction and non-fiction articles that appeared in publications such as Southern Living, Civil War Times Illustrated, as well as the short-lived regional publication, Lagniappe (1974-75) which he and Franklin Walker co-edited. His first published book, a children's story entitled Home for Christmas, came out in 1987 and was re-published in 1997 in a different edition (with new illustrations) following the release of his first novel, The Black Flower: A Novel of the Civil War. This latter book, set during the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee in 1864, was nominated for a number of national awards, including from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Gettysburg College, and the Book-of-the-Month Club, and was a New York Times Notable Book, but its release was somewhat overshadowed by the release at the same time of the bestseller, Cold Mountain.
In 2000, Bahr's second novel, The Year of Jubilo, was released. This novel, set in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War in the fictional Mississippi town of Cumberland, deals with the dehumanizing effects of war and its aftermath on Southern society. The Year of Jubilo, like The Black Flower, was a New York Times Notable Book.
Bahr's third novel, The Judas Field, was released in 2006. In The Judas Field, Bahr again returns to the Battle of Franklin theme, but this time it is through the eyes of one of its participants, again from Cumberland, who travels back to the battlefield in the 1880s to recover the body of one of the fallen, and, in doing so, relives the horror of that fateful day in 1864.
Howard Bahr is a Freemason, having served as Master of the Lodge while he was in Oxford. He is also a member of the Episcopal Church.
Jump to: navigation, search
Howard Bahr (1946- ) is an American novelist, born in Meridian, Mississippi. Bahr, who served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War and then worked for several years on the railroads, enrolled at the University of Mississippi in the early 1970s when he was in his late 20s. He received his B.A. and M.A. from Ole Miss and served as the curator of the William Faulkner house, Rowan Oak, in Oxford, Mississippi for nearly twenty years. He also taught American literature during much of this time at the University of Mississippi. In 1993, he became an instructor of English at Motlow State College in Tullahoma, Tennessee, where he worked until 2006. Bahr is the author of three critically acclaimed novels centering around the American Civil War. He currently resides in Jackson, Mississippi, and teaches courses in creative writing at Belhaven College.
Bahr began his writing career in the 1970s, writing both fiction and non-fiction articles that appeared in publications such as Southern Living, Civil War Times Illustrated, as well as the short-lived regional publication, Lagniappe (1974-75) which he and Franklin Walker co-edited. His first published book, a children's story entitled Home for Christmas, came out in 1987 and was re-published in 1997 in a different edition (with new illustrations) following the release of his first novel, The Black Flower: A Novel of the Civil War. This latter book, set during the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee in 1864, was nominated for a number of national awards, including from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Gettysburg College, and the Book-of-the-Month Club, and was a New York Times Notable Book, but its release was somewhat overshadowed by the release at the same time of the bestseller, Cold Mountain.
In 2000, Bahr's second novel, The Year of Jubilo, was released. This novel, set in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War in the fictional Mississippi town of Cumberland, deals with the dehumanizing effects of war and its aftermath on Southern society. The Year of Jubilo, like The Black Flower, was a New York Times Notable Book.
Bahr's third novel, The Judas Field, was released in 2006. In The Judas Field, Bahr again returns to the Battle of Franklin theme, but this time it is through the eyes of one of its participants, again from Cumberland, who travels back to the battlefield in the 1880s to recover the body of one of the fallen, and, in doing so, relives the horror of that fateful day in 1864.
Howard Bahr is a Freemason, having served as Master of the Lodge while he was in Oxford. He is also a member of the Episcopal Church.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 27, 2022
I have long intended to read Howard Bahr’s Christmas story, Home for Christmas, but copies are very hard to come by. This year I found one and the illustrations alone make it worth the reading. Set in the post Civil War world of Oxford, Mississippi, it is a children’s tale that will have much appeal for an adult. Left orphaned, Matthew and Mary make their way to their Uncle John, a Southern soldier with only one leg remaining, whose home has been burned to the ground and left him living in a small cabin with his fiddle and his dog and cats. They are accompanied by Isiah, a former slave, who loves the children and cares for them on the journey.
The book embodies the spirit of Christmas in times that are hard–the times when we need that spirit more than at any others. It made me think of my own altered status in life, the transition from gay and merry Christmases with my mother and father and six siblings, to days of young married love and Christmases of romance, and finally to these days of age, when looking back seems to be easier than looking ahead.
To all, I wish a merry Christmas season, a connection to the love that always endures, and a chance to build memories that never fade and bless the fast-moving years.
The book embodies the spirit of Christmas in times that are hard–the times when we need that spirit more than at any others. It made me think of my own altered status in life, the transition from gay and merry Christmases with my mother and father and six siblings, to days of young married love and Christmases of romance, and finally to these days of age, when looking back seems to be easier than looking ahead.
To all, I wish a merry Christmas season, a connection to the love that always endures, and a chance to build memories that never fade and bless the fast-moving years.
December 23, 2025
I gotta go five stars on this. What a fantastically unique little Christmas story, set in the Deep South in the 1860s. This is the first Civil War Christmas story I’ve ever read, and I love that Bahr, an expert with Civil War fiction, decided to write it. Short and sweet, descriptive, and filled with heart, this is a short story you can read in about 45 minutes to an hour, but Bahr covers a lot of stuff in these 50 pages. The book begins just after the Civil War in December 1865 with Isaiah, a former slave, bringing two kids who lost their parents, to their uncle John in Mississippi. Just before Christmas, Uncle John welcomes them and plans to adopt them, but the kids are dealing with the grief of their loss in different ways.
The story doesn’t go into tons of detail, but there is a lot left unsaid here, implied wonderfully by the author, that helps fill out some of this family’s past. It check many of the boxes for a good Christmas story (except snow because…Mississippi), as well as a good Civil War story as people try to piece their families back together after devastating war losses, and prepare to celebrate their first big holiday in their new reality.
It’s short, sweet, and touching, and also filled with great imagery. Highly recommend this to anyone, even if you’re not a big Civil War buff, as this is a human story that could take place at any time/place.
The story doesn’t go into tons of detail, but there is a lot left unsaid here, implied wonderfully by the author, that helps fill out some of this family’s past. It check many of the boxes for a good Christmas story (except snow because…Mississippi), as well as a good Civil War story as people try to piece their families back together after devastating war losses, and prepare to celebrate their first big holiday in their new reality.
It’s short, sweet, and touching, and also filled with great imagery. Highly recommend this to anyone, even if you’re not a big Civil War buff, as this is a human story that could take place at any time/place.
December 27, 2025
At this time of year, I often look for stories with a Christmas theme. I searched out this little gem that I had known about from having read Howard Bahr's Pelican Road a while back. It strikes me that the best Christmas stories often emerge not from conditions of joy and peace and plenty, but rather out of hardship, danger, even conflict. The famous WW1 Christmas Truce, The Shepherd, and of course A Christmas Carol come to mind. Perhaps that is in keeping with the story that began all of this.
There's hardship in plenty here: set in Oxford Misssissippi at the end of the American Civil War, this is cast as a children's story; but it's likely to appeal to persons of any age. Two children orphaned by war are rescued by a newly freed former slave from the devastation of Memphis, and reunited with an uncle who is himself crippled and impoverished. As the title implies, this is all about the meaning of home, and why home especially matters at Christmas. The appeal of this small book is greatly enhanced by illustrations by Kathleen Hardin.
There's hardship in plenty here: set in Oxford Misssissippi at the end of the American Civil War, this is cast as a children's story; but it's likely to appeal to persons of any age. Two children orphaned by war are rescued by a newly freed former slave from the devastation of Memphis, and reunited with an uncle who is himself crippled and impoverished. As the title implies, this is all about the meaning of home, and why home especially matters at Christmas. The appeal of this small book is greatly enhanced by illustrations by Kathleen Hardin.
January 2, 2019
After ten minutes I forgot I was reading and was completely transported to another place and time. The ending is so heartwarming that even the Victorians would have approved. Sure to become a new Christmas tradition for me.
December 13, 2009
Rural Mississippi , 1865 , The first Christmas after the end of the war, and the story of two orphan children who have just lost both parents to battle and disease. Let us be grateful for our blessings.
December 27, 2011
I had read it before but picked it up again this Christmas Eve. Great southern Christmas read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews