Caroline Kennedy used to grumble like the rest of us each time she had to endure another stressful, over-commercialized Christmas.
Then she discovered how the Massachusetts Puritans had banned the holiday, how the influential Cotton Mather had marched into his pulpit on Christmas Day, 1712, to denounce the act of celebrating as ”Blasphemy” and ”Licentious Liberty” fit to provoke the “burning wrath of God.” But now, Kennedy says by phone, she treasures the 21st century version of Christmas as ‘’such a huge part of life.” For all its faults, the holiday “brings out the best of the spirit, the hope. . . .
That’s such an important thing.” At 7:30 p.m. Friday, Kennedy will speak at Miami Book Fair International about her year-long effort to collect poems, short stories and other holiday writings for her new book, A Family Christmas (Hyperion, $26.96). Kennedy’s presentation, an onstage conversation with fair chairperson Mitchell Kaplan, will focus on how Christmas has evolved into today’s family-friendly version and become wedged into American lore.
After all, George Washington crossed the Delaware River on Christmas evening in 1776 to rout the British and their Hessian mercenaries. Kennedy, 49, bestselling editor, mother of three and, most famously, presidential daughter, says her new book was inspired, as its title suggests, by her family’s love for the holiday.