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Christmas in Plains : Memories | 
 enlarge | Authors: Jimmy Carter, Amy Carter
Category: Book
List Price: $20.00
Buy New: $3.02
You Save: $16.98 (85%)
New (9) Used (18) Collectible (1) from $1.25
Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 1605902
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 160
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.1 x 0.8
ASIN: B000J3EGVM
Publication Date: October 16, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
Jimmy Carter's Georgia hometown has been the one constant in his life, and he pays tribute to it with Christmas in Plains, a collection of holiday memories from his childhood through his Navy days, his time as Georgia governor and U.S. president, and his very active retirement. As a schoolboy, Carter looked forward to painting many-colored magnolia leaves to mix in with the holly on the mantle. His favorite way to collect mistletoe "usually at the top of oak or pecan trees and on the ends of slender limbs, was to shoot into the clump and let the bullets or buckshot cut off some sprigs." And when his godmother went to Cleveland, Ohio, one December, he asked her to bring back a snowball. It was quite some time before he realized that the large white marble she gave him was not "a real petrified snowball." Carter's memories of holding onto faith during the Christmases of his presidency are often poignant, taking place in the context of the Iranian hostage crisis and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. And his postretirement experiences of Christmas are strangely, comfortingly familiar, characterized by jealousy of in-laws and generosity towards neighbors. --Michael Joseph Gross
Product Description
In a beautifully rendered portrait, Jimmy Carter remembers the Christmas days of his Plains boyhood -- the simplicity of family and community gift-giving, his father's eggnog, the children's house decorations, the school Nativity pageant, the fireworks, Luke's story of the birth of Christ, and the poignancy of his black neighbors' poverty. Later, away at Annapolis, he always went home to Plains, and during his Navy years, when he and Rosalynn were raising their young family, they spent their Christmases together re-creating for their children the holiday festivities of their youth. Since the Carters returned home to Plains for good, they have always been there on Christmas Day, with only one exception in forty-eight years: In 1980, with Americans held hostage in Iran, Jimmy, Rosalynn, and Amy went by themselves to Camp David, where they felt lonely. Amy suggested that they invite the White House staff and their families to join them and to celebrate. Nowadays the Carters' large family is still together at Christmastime, offering each other the gifts and the lifelong rituals that mark this day for them. With the novelist's eye that enchanted readers of his memoir "An Hour Before Daylight," Jimmy Carter has written another American classic, in the tradition of Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory" and Dylan Thomas's "A Child's Christmas in Wales."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
Christmas in Plains August 17, 2008
ISBN 0743224914 - I've got a large collection of Christmas books and thought that Christmas In Plains would fit in nicely. Since then, I've read the book and have no desire to keep it - but I am glad to have read it. It's a nice look at Christmases gone by and a tiny window on the interaction between blacks and whites in rural Georgia over the years.
Carter shares his memories of Christmas throughout his life. As a member of a well-off family in Georgia, he is blissfully unaware of any real difference between himself and his black playmates and shares Christmas joys with them as well as with his close family. Even the town figures into the earliest celebrations, with fireworks and church services. Through his years at West Point and in the Navy, including the early years of his marriage and finally reaching his time in public service, when his family grew and grew until, returning to Georgia from the White House, he and his wife find that much has changed - and much has stayed the same.
For other former presidents, perhaps the years in office would be their choice for an uplifting ending to a book like this. Carter chooses to end with the beginnings of his time with Habitat for Humanity, a fitting place to leave things for this man who, more than any other recent president, comes across as a normal guy with the ability to relate to the rest of us.
I was a little annoyed to find that the first chapter or two never really came into focus. Carter spends most of his ink there pointing out, in various ways, how not racist he is. While I believe that Carter's an open-minded non-racist, it seemed a little much. On the other hand, bookending the entire tale with his childhood among black neighbors in the 1930-1940s with the story of Curtis and Martha, black neighbors in need of help, is a great choice. Despite being part of a close family, and his mentioning the days before his father's death, he glosses over that death and its impact on himself, his family and their holidays. The illustrations by Amy Carter would have been cute, had they been done when she was 8. She's not eight and the only cute factor is that they're evidence of her closeness to her father. A nice holiday read, just not a keeper.
- AnnaLovesBooks
 Enjoy In A Cozy Chair July 25, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a perfect book to read at the holidays, curled up in a comfy chair with a good drink and a warm blanket.
Who knew Jimmy Carter was so sentimental? I was impressed by his recollections of holidays from way back and by his gentle telling of the times at home and in the White House.
A short little book with good feeling.
 The same Christmas Memories For All December 17, 2004
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Just sit back and enjoy. We all have these memories wether we are rich or poor, powerful or not. Just how we remember Christmas back home. Warm, endearing and easy to read, maybe somethings you know and some you did'nt. This should be a Christmas tradition.
The Human Side of America's 39th President January 28, 2004
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I had the privilege and honor of meeting President Carter at the University of Washington, where he signed a copy of this book for me. "Christmas in Plains" is a wonderful book that approaches autobiography in a new and interesting way: Jimmy Carter reflects on his life as a series of holiday seasons. We see the triumphs and the failures in eloquent and honest prose.History will remember Jimmy Carter as a compassionate human being with a genuine desire to help others. This book would make the perfect holiday gift. After all, what better values truly embody the holiday spirit than compassion and love?
Christmas Joy from the Carters December 23, 2003
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The short, joyful book contains Jimmy Carter memories of Christmas. His earliest memories begin around 1930 (when he was 5), and involve memories of father Earl and mother Lillian, as well as black neighbors (in an era of separation, his family perhaps represented a light in the South). There are happy childhood memories of finding the Christmas tree and fireworks. Jimmy and Rosalynn always tried to get back to Plains, but there are included a few absent remembrance from Navy years, and a rather tense Christmas with the holding of the Iran hostages. The line drawings by daughter Amy add a family charm to the book. May the Carter's have many more Merry Christmases together in Plains.
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