BBQ TABLE DECORATIONS

Southern Living Christmas Cookbook: All-New Ultimate Holiday Entertaining Guide (Southern Living (Hardcover Oxmoor))

Throwing a party—big or small, simple or extravagant—just got easier. Whether you're planning your first big holiday celebration or your twentieth, you'll find this memory-making treasury an invaluable hospitality guide for all occasions.

Over 350 recipes, 32 menus, and nearly 250 color photographs team up to make this the ultimate holiday entertaining guide. Take the guesswork out of meal planning with complete menus and time-saving game plans–one for every menu. Make entertaining a joy with casual-fare menus, for when you're entertaining family and close friends, and more dressed-up menus, for when you want to go all out.

You'll love the make-ahead ease of the Harvest Fare menu that features Bourbon-Glazed Ham and Out-of-this-World Scalloped Potatoes. The Easygoing, Family Breakfast, with its Breakfast Pizza and Cheesy Baked Grits, will delight the entire family. Don't miss the Coffee and Chocolate Party that offers such indulgences as Mocha Fondue, in addition to tips on setting up a coffee bar. The Classic Christmas Dinner, with its entree choice of Marinated Cornish Hens or Marinated Turkey Breast, will have you preparing this meal year-round rather than waiting for Christmas Day! You'll be ready for every Yuletide event with menus for brunches, buffets, and cocktail parties, as well as a New Year's Day feast.

A full-to-overflowing "Holiday Cooking" section encompasses every food category from appetizers and beverages to main dishes and sides; there are breads, as well as cakes, pies, and candies. Treats for Early Risers gives you at-a-glance breakfast and brunch ideas, from Basic Buttery Biscuits to Bananas Foster French Toast and cute, little Mini Sausage-and-Egg Casseroles baked in coffee mugs. You'll refer again and again to Simple Supper Solutions as a year-round source for family-friendly dishes. Whether it's Fiesta Turkey Soup and Green Chili Biscuits or Spicy Coleslaw Reubens, you'll discover a treasure trove of easy weeknight meals. Convenient prep and cook times are listed with every recipe to help you plan ahead.

A bonus gift section—"5 Ingredient 15 Minute Gifts From the Kitchen"—shares a dozen quick-and-easy gifts from the heart of the home. Each recipe either has just 5 ingredients or takes only 15 minutes to prepare—and some feature both. Colorful photos show simple packaging ideas, so whether it's Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix or Red-and-Green Pistachio Bark, you'll have delicious solutions to satisfy everyone on your gift list.

Be sure to check out the "Holiday Entertaining Guide" for inspiring table-setting ideas, hostess tips, and a special selection of 12 year-round, all-occasion, mix-and-match menu ideas that will have you in good standing for party planning any season of the year.

This is an HDR of our living room done to showcase the gorgeous decorations that adorn it.

Xmas holiday decorations, 2010 - living room ceiling

Carole King's first ever holiday album, A Holiday Carole, will be released by Hear Music/Concord Music Group on November 1st, 2011. Produced by her daughter Louise Goffin, the album's 12 songs artfully blend the sacred and the secular with an eclectic mix of well-chosen standards and newly-written material. Goffin co-wrote three original tracks on the album, including the Latin-flavored "Christmas in Paradise," on which she collaborated with Grammy-winners George Noriega and Jodi Marr, the sublime Goffin/Marr composition "Christmas In The Air," and the deeply moving "New Year's Day," co-written with renowned songsmith Guy Chambers.

"As an experienced producer," King remembers, "Louise's first question to me as her artist was, 'What songs do you like?'" After compiling a list of favorites, Goffin went on the hunt for more unusual tracks, coming up with tunes like William Bell & Booker T. Jones' Stax classic "Every Day Will Be Like A Holiday." King puts her own indelible stamp on the music, lending it a special seasonal flair.

For King, the album's emotional highlight is undoubtedly "Chanukah Prayer." "Louise had the brilliant idea to take the Chanukah prayer that I learned from my parents, and they learned from their parents, and back through generations," she explains. "She said 'I want to record you singing that and I'm going to build a track around it.'" The result is a warm, jazz-inflected tune that brings together three generations on vocals: King, her daughter, and her grandson.

In a career with innumerable highlights, King has reached new pinnacles in recent years including 2010's bestselling Troubadour Reunion album and tour with James Taylor, American Idol devoting an entire episode to her music this season, and a forthcoming memoir due out in 2012.