Parts of this book are lovely - a delicious recipe for mince pies was my favourite. The craft items are great too, with some new ideas. The layout is lovely, very old-fashioned and traditional. The snippets of festive history, meanings and folklore add to the flavour. The only thing that I felt was unnecessary were the carols, you can find them anywhere, but some people might appreciate the words. On the whole though this is a great asset to your festive collection, especially if you like country style and keeping the home fires burning.