Quote of the Day (Elizabeth Hardwick, on ‘Christmas Past’ in Kentucky)

“Oranges and peppermint candy, fruitcake long in the making but swift enough in the eating, with a little Bourbon whiskey poured over it. A chill in the air, if not the snow of dreams, and the dusty whiffs, at that woebegone time, of soft coal burning in the grate—this was Kentucky long ago, when we sat with our father at the upright piano and each night of Christmas week sang the hymns and the old songs of Christmas, many with their dog-trot rhymes of bed and head, night and bright.”—Elizabeth Hardwick (1916-2007), “Christmas Past,” in Christmas at The New Yorker: Stories, Poems, Humor, and Art, from the editors of The New Yorker (2003)