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I start to think about the coming Christmas as soon as the sales start in the New Year. Come January, there are some wonderful bargains to be found in the stores, and with a bit of forward planning, you can save a lot of money buying stuff well in advance. And I don´t mean just picking up the odd gift for the kids.

Some of the best bargains I have been lucky enough to unearth throughout the year are the items used for seasonal table setting. And why not plan so far ahead? After all, whilst we start planning the menu, the guests, the tree and the presents in plenty of time, most of us are still guilty of simply adding a few fancy folded napkins and a bit of holly to the table on the “big day” itself.

This year, make and effort to choose a theme or a color scheme well in advance. Here are some tips for a simple but effective Christmas table.

• Don´t overdo it. Whilst some people like to go a little “over the top” with their enthusiasm for decorations at Christmas, a few simple and stylish adornments are all you need to create a festive atmosphere.
• Consider the number of guests that you have invited and plan accordingly. For a large family gathering,you will probably need more than one Christmas table centerpiece. A couple of pine or holly wreaths to surround large, church-style candles would be sufficient.
• Don´t use mistletoe unless you are having an intimate Christmas dinner, or else you will spend all your time fending off Christmas kisses from distant relatives!
• Christmas is not generally a very formal affair. Choose decor that is festive and  welcoming, creating a feeling of warmth and comfort in your home.

So exactly what items do you need to consider in your table setting?

1) The Cloth. Maybe you have a special table cloth for Christmas Day. If so, give it a check over. If it has become faded, tired or stained, it may be best to throw it out and start afresh with a new one. Generally, white cloths are not a very good idea, as they can get stained easily by the gravy, sauces and red wine that flows! Burgundy, gold and dark green are all colors with a festive feel, and the bonus is that they do not show up every little mark.

Remember that if you are lighting candles, wax may well fall onto the cloth, so protect your linens by standing the candles on a seasonal coaster.
If you have very young children at the table, consider a pretty, patterned Xmas table cloth made of plastic or paper. Food will invariably get spilt, but at least you can stop worrying about the stains. There are some really good quality ones around now, so no need to compromise on style.
Finally, if you are having a lot of table decoration, choose a plainer cloth so that the overall effect is not too overwhelming. If your cloth is a feature in itself, with embroidery, ribbons and a lot of detail, then go easy on the additional adornments.

2) The Christmas Table Centrepiece. You may only have one, or for a larger gathering you may need several centerpieces. But what do you choose? Well, you are only limited by your imagination! Floral arrangements are a popular choice, with either fresh or dried seasonal flowers arranged in a display, and work well if you only want one large item as a focal point. Just remember not to make the floral arrangement too big, or you may not be able to see each other across the table! Plants such as poinsettas can make an effective flower centerpiece, placed in gold pots tied with contrasting ribbons.
Other options are small dishes of artificial fruits, mingled with gold painted pine cones, or try making some “presents” by wrapping different sized boxes in co-ordinating wrapping paper and dressing with ribbons. Scatter along the table with a few candy canes.

Pot pourii with festive scents can also work well, but if I´m using this I open the packs a few days in advance, otherwise the smell can be overpowering and mask the wonderful aroma of the food itself.

One thing I remember from my childhood was the wonderful centerpiece we had. “Snowy” was a bit of an heirloom, a fabric snowman with a removable base, around 18 inches tall. Each year, he was filled with a mystery gift for all the guests, and at the end of the meal as we enjoyed coffee, we opened Snowy and passed around the small presents. We children loved it. Sadly, Snowy did not last for ever, but I made a similar snowman from a cone of card and decorated him myself, so the idea lives on. This makes an ideal centerpiece for a family with younger children.

3) The Crackers. Love them or hate them, crackers are an integral part of the Christmas day table setting process. These days, you can buy surprisingly stylish crackers to match just about any table or color scheme. From budget family crackers to luxury designer ones, there is something for every taste. And if you have older childern, there are also some good cracker making kits out there. Why not have a go at making your own? Al least that way you might even get a decent gift!

This year make sure you start to plan for your Christmas table well in advance. Get organized, plan ahead and have a festive table that will enhance the occasion, with an atmosphere of warmth and love to reflect the true spirit of Christmas.

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Every time a birthday in my family or group of friends comes around, I’m stuck with the inevitable dilemma: what is the party cake? Getting the ice cream part is easy…you just choose the flavor the birthday girl or boy loves the most and if you don’t know you can always stick with the fail-safe vanilla and chocolate.

But when it comes down to the cake, you’re stuck trying to figure out a variety of things: type, flavor, shape, frosting, decoration…the list goes on and on. There have been years where I tried to bake a 3-layer cake, a cheesecake, a checkerboard cake, an ice cream cake…and each and every one of them came out as disasters, but what was I going to do? My son wanted a Winnie the Pooh shaped cake and I was going to give it to him!

But in more recent times, I have come to appreciate the simple art of cupcakes. Laugh if you want, but making a bear’s head out of cupcakes is A LOT easier than trying to cut and frost a big sheet cake that ends up looking like a Salvador Dali.

For example, I recently had the dilemma of being told that my nephew wanted a Rocket cake for his birthday. But he didn’t want just any Rocket cake. It had to be a 3-D Rocket cake. You know the kind that stands up like a real Rocket? He didn’t want any of that flat sheet cake cut into a Rocket shape. So naturally, I had this terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. Did that kid have any idea how many layers of cake it would take to build a Rocket? It just wasn’t going to happen.

Of course, I still tried. I baked 15 layers of chocolate cake, piled them on top of each other with icing for glue, sliced away at the sides until I had the perfect Rocket shape with wings and everything, turned around to dip into the 10-lb bowl of icing…and then, it happened. My 2-foot tall masterpiece came crashing through atmosphere and exploded on my kitchen floor.

Fortunately, instead of a nervous breakdown and a regular stroke, I had a stroke of brilliance and realized that cupcakes were the answer. Stack and frost. Frost a plastic funnel and stick it on top. Voila! I had a bona fide Rocket made from cupcakes, an excited room full of children and one very happy birthday boy!

I have become especially fond of the easy chocolate cupcake recipe my mother gave me that I can use for every birthday because everyone I know will eat anything that’s made out of chocolate. And the best part is, for the family members who can’t quite digest chocolate anymore, I can add in fiber and flax seed without anyone noticing…healthy and yummy makes for the best kind of birthday treats.

One of the best parts about birthday cupcakes is the plethora of cupcake decorating ideas that I can come up with over the course of an afternoon…or the course of a couple of days when I have to bake a hundred cupcakes for a pack of hungry kids at the local elementary on my son’s next birthday.

There are some kids in the class who are still at that stage in their young lives where they are afraid of birthday regulars like balloons and clowns. So it’s nice to be able to whip out the food coloring and come up with 15 or so different colors of cupcake icing that I can use to turn each cupcake into an individual birthday present.

My secret favorite thing about decorating the birthday cupcakes is that it can become a birthday party activity with my children and their friends, taking up a load of time I would have otherwise spent chasing them around my house trying to get them to play pin the tail on the donkey, bobbing for apples and twenty other party games no children really want to play.

I buy the little edible cake toppers for cakes, jelly beans, chocolate chips, licorice strings, M & Ms sprinkles and a favorite of other items usually only reserved for ice cream variety bars and let the kids go wild. Of course, they all go home with upset tummies but I’m the coolest Mom on the block and my kids are the most popular because they had the “very best birthday party ever!”

And now we’re down to it…the very best part about cupcakes at birthday parties is that they work just like regular cake, but I don’t get any of the complaints, any of the wait or any of the mess afterwards.

I can decorate cupcakes any way the birthday boy or girl wants me to decorate it. I can build a cake that’s flat like a sheet cake or I can build a 3-D version of their favorite things.

I don’t get complaints about the portions being too big or too small and I certainly don’t get harassed for the way I cut the cake because each and every piece is shaped exactly the same and comes out the same size every time.

And of course, cupcakes lack the mess of regular cake. I don’t have to worry about cutting the cake and getting the frosting everywhere and I certainly don’t have to worry about plates, knives, forks, etc., etc. etc.

I’m proud to say that with cupcakes everyone can serve themselves and they can literally eat my cake right out of their own hands.

After all this time—all of the mistakes, all of the adventures, all of the disasters and all of the victories—I know that cupcakes really do make the best birthday cakes. And not just because it makes my life easier so I can enjoy the birthday party, but because everyone involved has a better time and always seems to have a smile at the end.

Cupcakes really are the birthday savior.

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People often wonder what the real differences are between cooking with a crock pot and using the more traditional methods of cooking, like grilling, oven roasting and baking and stove-top sautéing, not to mention the age-old method of going down the block to neighborhood fast food joint or steakhouse—secretly, you know it’s your favorite, too. What people don’t realize is that each of these types of cooking has its own unique and tremendous qualities, but that none is as easy or as safe as cooking with slow cooker recipes. Let’s review some of the major concerns and ideas that come up when we’re talking about these traditional methods of cooking versus using a crock pot to do our cooking.

Safety concerns- We all know that with every type of cooking there are safety concerns and you must take precautions not to let harm come to you, your family, or your food. When you’re cooking on the stove you have to worry about the pot boiling over, scorching the pans, the pots and the food and you have to worry about burning your hands on the burners. With grilling, you have to worry about flame-ups, charring the food and of course, grilling disasters. But with a crock pot you can just set it and forget it. Sure, if you’re crock pot is older, you need to test it before you use it, but you can always count on your crock pot to never boil over, scorch or flame-up. And that’s a beautiful thing.

Sealing in the flavor- When you’re making a meal you want it to be flavorful and satisfying. Take pork chops for instance. If you make them correctly you won’t have to worry about spices and sauces because the full, natural flavor of the pork chops would be enough. In grilling, stove and oven cooking, there’s always the worry that you may dry out your pork chops and other meats. But if you use specially written crock pot pork recipes, you won’t have to think about it twice. Cooking on the grill, in the oven and on the stove are relatively quick methods with high heat that drain the natural fats, juices and tenderness of the meat. But when you cook with a slow cooker, you are cooking with a safe, prolonged heat that penetrates the meat and cooks it without draining its natural fullness and flavor.

Health concerns- have you ever noticed when you cook on the stove that you have to coat the pan and the food in non-stick cooking spray, butter or oil? And even though there are more choices in the fats and oils department than ever before, they still can’t be healthy for you. But with some of the easy chicken crock pot ideas out there, you can find healthy alternatives to the regular fare. No more cooking your chicken in butter just to keep it from scorching on the outside and no more worrying about it being black on the outside and frozen on the inside.

Time to prepare- Let’s face it. Time, and a real lack of it, is the main reason you find a million other excuses to roll into a fast food restaurant and pick up a meal for your family or yourself rather than eating at home.

Ease of preparation- Next to time, the ease of preparing a meal is second to none in deciding to go to the burger joint down the street instead of rolling up your sleeves and making a meal that has flavor, is healthful and fulfills your hungry desires.

Cost of a single meal- With every fast food joint offering a dollar menu or super value menu now, it’s hard to resist the temptation to hand over that little, nearly meaningless piece of paper and coins to get the satisfaction you want right on the spot. Especially when you consider the fact that the pound of potatoes in your pantry that also cost you a dollar must be cut and boiled or fried, and if you can’t figure out why that might tempt you away from your own kitchen, go back to numbers 4 and 5.

A family that eats together stays together- If you had one of those functional families growing up, then you’re different than about 90% of all people and you’re lucky. But even those of us with dysfunctional families remember when Mom and Dad forced us to sit at the table and have a family meal together at least once a week, if not every night. You hated it then, but now that you’re older, you realize it wasn’t so bad after all because it just may have kept you close to your family. And just because the world is getting busier and you’re getting busy too, doesn’t mean that you still can’t have that time together. Unless you’re choosing to cook on the grill, on the stove, or in the oven. In that case, you’ll either have to cook all day and heat it up when you’re ready to eat, or you’ll have to sacrifice family time to get to your family meal and who wants to do that? That’s probably yet another reason why we choose to head for the fast food joint and local restaurant chain than stay at home.

But that’s why crock pot cooking is different. Pick out your most difficult recipe, like apples and pork that you would normally cook in a skillet or in the oven and have to watch to add water or turn down the temperature or add the vegetables, etc. etc. Now turn it into a crock pot apple and pork recipe. Throw in the ingredients in the morning when your family is still asleep and when it’s getting close to dinner you’ll actually be in the room to hear your children say, “Wow, that smells good,” for a change. And if you’re single, you might actually be able to read a few pages of that book you checked out from the library six months ago.

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