Celebrate the beauty and charm of the holidays with recipes for traditional food and drink, decorating ideas, and heartwarming stories With its trademark snow, piney forests, sleigh rides and woodsmoke curling out of village chimneys, New England was practically invented for the Christmas postcard. It’s got your Christmas goose and the maple syrup with which to glaze it. It’s most of the reason author Ellen Stimson made Vermont her home. Here she shares recipes that have been in her family for generations, mixes up a cocktail or two, and invites readers to make their own traditions.

Bring country magic to your home this holiday! Packed with easy-to-follow suggestions for furnishings, decorations, gifts, and cards, this tribute to an old-fashioned rural Noel sets a beautiful mood with four distinctive themes. Fire and Frost features the festive elegance of sparkling silver and gold. Comfort and Joy showcases bold and joyful Victoriana--including keepsake albums. Modern-day warmth suffuses Calm & Bright, with all the trimmings for a 21st-century Christmas. And, The Holly & the Ivy celebrates the season's natural pleasures. Plus: a directory with classic motifs!

Living the dream of the endless vacation “Anyone who has ever dreamed of leaving the city and taking their lives back to nature (and who hasn't?) will find much to contemplate in this warm and hilarious tale of rural misadventure and small town quirk, even if they have never chased a goat in a bathing suit or called 911 because there were cows in the road. Stimson's voice is endearing: both in its self-deprecation and its rapture, as she sings an only slightly conflicted love song to Vermont.” —Pam Houston, author of Contents May Have Shifted “Taking a plunge that wimpier sorts (i.e. most of us) only fantasize about, Ellen Stimson and her family packed up their house in St. Louis and threw themselves into a wildly different life in small-town Vermont. Armed with the passion-and haplessness-of wide-eyed newcomers they rescue goats and adopt chickens, do battle with skunks and bats and falling ice, and, most disastrously, buy a black hole of a general store. Through it all they manage to retain their love for their adopted home as well as one another. This is a tale to which all the cliché words absolutely apply: hilarious, heartwarming, rollicking, and, most of all, rich in the real stuff of life.” —Julia Reed, author of But Mama Always Put Vodka in Her Sangria!

Sally Ryder Brady's A Yankee Christmas Featuring Nantucket Noel captures all the special qualities of Christmas in New England. Here you'll find a cornucopia of delicious recipes and traditional crafts, along with many hints for decorating, gift giving, and festive celebrations. An abundance of mouth-watering holiday recipes, fun and easy-to-do Christmas crafts, charming gift ideas, and plenty of welcome advice put the spirit into the Christmas season.

Home for Christmas -- Christmas almanac -- Collector's Christmas -- Festive feasting -- Holiday folk art -- Christmas traveler.

Originally published: Woodstock, Vermont: The Countryman Press, 2013.

Make your Christmas spectacular! Inside you'll find 200 fresh ideas for decorating, tree-trimming, as well as crafting unique and thoughtful gifts. Plus the dozens of recipes will help you celebrate deliciously. It will be a holiday to remember!