This Issue | What’s Old Is New Again

It’s about a three-second walk from my office to the room where we keep the Yankee archives. Whoo, that place can be a time-suck. Many a time I’ve ventured into the room to look up an old article only to emerge, half an hour later, with a new appreciation for bean hole suppers, Stephen King’s early career, or the low price of coastal real estate in 1955. That room—it’s a joy and a curse.

Most recently it was the former. For this issue, we went back to the archives to unearth five of our favorite Christmas-themed Yankee stories. Among them are Jud Hale’s hilarious discovery that Santa is not who he thinks he is, and Donald Hall’s wonderful remembrance of playing you-know-who in his small New Hampshire town. They’re all holiday stories, but they’re also all Yankee stories: rooted in place, whimsical and poignant.

We’re proud of those stories. And we’re proud of this issue. Happy holidays.

Ian Aldrich Deputy Editor @ialdrich