Amazon.com (ISBN 0517881020, Paperback)

Martha Stewart's Christmas remains a classic cooking and decorating guide for the Christmas season. The book can be viewed as an elaborate timeline for preparing for December 25--indeed, Martha claims the book was written and photographed in "real time" from the day after Thanksgiving through Christmas Day. Along the way, Martha teaches you how to make plum pudding, 24 different types of cookies, and a holiday party menu featuring cassoulet for 100. For Christmas Day dinner, a towering croquembouche is perhaps the finest culinary feature of the menu, which features roast ducklings with wild rice, chestnut, and cranberry dressing. Martha also provides tips on decorating trees, making ornaments, gift-wrapping papers, and making beautiful wreaths and topiaries. There's even advice on making up gift baskets of the cookies, conserves, and puddings that you've created yourself. Martha herself admits that "it's true, we did get carried away"--she creates an elaborate gingerbread mansion--but most of the recipes and crafts are easy to follow and produce great results. Martha Stewart's Christmas is a real gift. C.B. Delaney