If you’ve ever wondered what Christmas was like on a Lowcountry plantation in Antebellum times, William Gilmore Simms has the answers. His 1852 novella, The Golden Christmas, is a sunny take of romance and comedy that floats carelessly above the thinly-veiled darkness of slavery. Today we’ll take a quick overview of its author, its storyline, and its fatal flaws, and then sample a bite-sized portion of this holiday story.