Frederica, Delaware

Twas the Week After Christmas:  The end is near! Not your end (hopefully), but the year's end. What we need is a bridge that will carry us across the canyon and into 2017. The best bridge for the job is a covered bridge, and fortunately many of them are to be found in cemeteries. Barretts Chapel Cemetery. [2013]

Lancaster, Virginia

Twas the Week After Christmas:  The wreaths remain. They are evergreen and here for the winter. But, they are not your everyday evergreens. They capture Virginia's Tidewater perfectly. One is made of magnolia leaves and the other is adorned with oyster shells. St. Mary's Whitechapel Cemetery. [2016]

Chesapeake, Virginia

Twas the Week After Christmas:  Here's proof that Santa stops at cemeteries. But, it's the day after Christmas, and the boxes remain unopened. Maybe they get opened on Boxing Day, which is today! Chesapeake Memorial Gardens. [2012]

Brusly, Louisiana

Twas the Week Before Christmas:  "Merry Christmas Mom & Dad / Maw & Grandpa." Here is what we have become. We still try to make you proud of us. "We ❤ you and miss you." St. John the Baptist Catholic Cemetery. [2011]

Batesburg, South Carolina

Twas the Week Before Christmas:  This is how we imagine the Holy Family: Mary and Joseph as a young woman and an old man. If Mary were not in her early teens when she gave birth to Jesus, that would be a surprise since it was the custom at the time for women to marry young. As for Joseph, there seems to be little reason to think he was much older than Mary. Men married young, too. Joseph may have been a few years older than his bride, but not decades (as suggested by this figurine). Amick Grove Pentecostal Church Cemetery. [2016]

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Twas the Week Before Christmas: The location is Chattanooga, so what would you expect in the middle of the national cemetery there? A Chattanooga Choo Choo, of course. Buried here are Medal of Honor recipients. They participated in the "Great Locomotive Chase" during the Civil War. Chattanooga National Cemetery. [2013]

Frederick, Maryland

"In Hopes That St. Nicholas Soon Would Be There":  Little known fact: Santa Claus visits cemeteries, too. Although he packs some flowers for the adults in the neighborhood, he spends most of his time leaving love tokens for the children. Mount Olivet Cemetery. [2006]