On the Cover: "Love Doves" (1997)

In Christian traditions, the dove has long carried with it associations with peace, and the promise of a brighter tomorrow. At Christmastime, the bird joins the season’s tableaux of symbols, along with holly and stars and fruitcakes (before you balk, read publisher James Fox-Smith's love letter to them, try his favorite recipe, and then plan a trip to the "Fruitcake Capitol of the World") that together construct that assured sense of nostalgia and magic we look forward to each year.

In the Gulf South, land of traditions, we are perhaps even more prone to such sentimentality—and known to add our own rituals to the global celebrations. Here, Tchaikovsky’s ballet gets transformed into a bayou story, orange wine is preferred over eggnog, and the most mesmerizing light installations float in our bodies of water.

In this season of traditions, it also feels like a keen time to celebrate the work of an artist who is a Baton Rouge institution all her own, the one and only Judi Betts—who is currently being honored with a sixty-year retrospective at the Manship Gallery at the Shaw Center for the Arts. Read more about her work in our Perspectives column, here.