It is the time of good cheer and happiness and presents for everybody; the time of chiming bells and joyful carols; of turkey and candy and plum-pudding and all the other good things that go to make up a truly merry Christmas.  And here and there throughout the country, some of the quaint old customs of our forefathers are still observed at this time, as, for instance, the pretty custom of “Christmas waits”—­boys and girls who go about from house to house on Christmas eve, or early Christmas morning, singing carols.

But, aside from the Christmas customs we all know so well, Uncle Sam has many strange and special ways of observing Christmas; for in this big country of his there are many different kinds of people, and they all do not celebrate Christmas in the same way, as you shall see.

=IN THE SOUTH=

Siss!  Bang!  Boom!  Sky-rockets hissing, crackers snapping, cannons roaring, horns tooting, bells ringing, and youngsters shouting with wild delight.  That is the way Christmas begins down South.

[Illustration:  CHRISTMAS IN THE SOUTH]

It starts at midnight, or even before; and all day long fire-crackers are going off in the streets of every city, town, and village of the South, from Virginia to Louisiana.  A Northern boy, waking up suddenly in New Orleans or Mobile or Atlanta, would think he was in the midst of a rousing Fourth-of-July celebration.  In some of the towns the brass bands come out and add to the jollity of the day by marching around and playing “My Maryland” and “Dixie”; while the soldier companies parade up and down the streets to the strains of joyous music and fire salutes with cannons and rifles.

To the girls and boys of the South, Christmas is the noisiest and jolliest day of the year.  The Fourth of July doesn’t compare with it.  And as for the darkies, they look upon Christmas as a holiday that was invented for their especial happiness.  They take it for granted that all the “white folks” they know will give them presents; and with grinning faces they are up bright and early, asking for “Christmus gif’, mistah; Christmus gif, missus.”  No one thinks of refusing them, and at the end of the day they are richer and happier than at any other time during the whole year.

Except for the jingle of sleigh-bells and the presence of Jack Frost, a Christmas in the South is in other ways very much like that in the North.  The houses are decorated with greens, mistletoe hangs above the doorways, Santa Claus comes down the chimneys and fills the waiting stockings, while Christmas dinner is not complete without the familiar turkey and cranberry sauce, plum puddings and pies.

=IN NEW ENGLAND=

For a great many years there was no Christmas in New England.  The Pilgrims and the Puritans did not believe in such celebrations.  In fact, they often made it a special point to do their hardest work on Christmas day, just to show their contempt for what they considered a pagan festival.