On Tuesday, December 25, 1860, Louisianian Sarah Lois Wadley wrote in her diary from her home in Amite:

"It is Christmas day, the great festival of the year, but this Christmas is not very merry to us, nor, I dare say, to many others in This country. Dr. Lord said last Sunday that we ought to let the great wave of political troubles roll by for a while, and try and forget the exigencies of the times during Christmas, the anniversary of that day in which rose the sun of Righteousness; but this is very hard to do. We can have no tangible expressions of merry making, which though far less dignified than a deep Christian rejoicing goes very far towards promoting universal thankfulness and love in the household...
Uncle Moses and Aunt Jane are coming to dine with us today...
We spent Christmas day very quietly, our only extra amusement was going to the Christmas tree at the Church."

Lest we forget.

Merry Christmas to you all!