It’s here. The November/December issue of the Vicksburg Living Magazine has arrived, and boy is it a cutie.

Those Burke girls don’t take a bad picture, and Santa always has it going on.

The content is pretty delicious, too. Take, for instance, William Furlong’s tapas recipes. As I have mentioned before, one of my assignments for the magazine is to photograph the food, and afterwards, William insists I try out the fare. Truly this is by far one of the best perks of my job. To date, I haven’t tasted anything I didn’t like.

And since this issue of the magazine is the Christmas edition, Bill and Denise Mounger’s house was decorated for the season, and everything in their home was just beautiful. I especially loved Denise’s angel that was hung over the fireplace mantle.

Vicksburg has some beautiful homes, and I am always grateful to families who are willing to open their doors and share their homes with readers.

Vicksburg native Bob Morrison wrote a story that is included in the magazine. For those of you who know Bob, it won’t surprise you that his talents also include writing. The story he shared was of his days growing up when the schools were going through desegregation. It was a challenging time, but he recalls some of his fond memories of friends and the success of the football teams through the years.

Sam and Anna Kate Andrews, owners of Anchuca, have succeeded in renovating the home’s pool house into a kitchen designed solely for Anna Kate’s baking business, so we gave readers an inside look at the remodel. For those who like sweets,  I am sure Anna Kate wouldn’t mind if you placed an order or two with her for those dainty little macarons she makes, or a specialty cake.

I think my favorite story in the magazine is the one Ben Martin wrote. My youngest daughter suggested the idea and I loved it, so Ben made it happen. He reached out to some locals and asked them what their favorite toy was they received at Christmas growing up. What was your favorite toy you received at Christmas? I also did a little research for the story on some of the most sought-after toys through the years. I recalled having to hunt down some of these when my children were young. I would imagine many of you did the same. For Ben’s story, we also had fun playing around with the graphics and for that I want to give William another shoutout since it was his idea to flip the pages sideways. So, no — it’s not a misprint.

In this issue, we had lots of readers submit photos for the back pages and they will all put a smile on your face. I especially like the one of my grandson, where he has a Christmas bow stuck to his head.

For those of you who don’t subscribe, please come by the office and grab a copy. And if you want to, you can walk on in and become a subscriber. You can also give the gift of a Vicksburg Living subscription as a Christmas present, because, in the words of Cousin Eddie in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” “It’s the gift that keeps on giving.”

Terri Cowart Frazier writes features for The Vicksburg Post. She can be reached at terri.frazier@vicksburgpost.com.