Southerners really do have a special knack for celebrating Christmas well--some folks say we've been doing it since 1607, when Captain John Smith and his ment marked the day by inviting members of the Powhatan Confederacy to share a meal with them in Jamestown, Virginia. Later, Souther states were the first to make Christmas Day a legal holiday: Louisiana and Arkansas put it on the books in 1831, and alabama followed suit in 1836.