A Review: Christmas with Southern Living 2024 and Decorating with a Happy Heart
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ม.ค. 2025
- “From the editors at Southern Living comes the best-yet collection of holiday ideas, in a new book brimming with recipes, decorating tips, menus for entertaining family and friends, and everything you need to deck the halls and make your holiday shine
Scrumptious recipes and dazzling decorations make spirits bright! Let the experts at Southern Living inspire you to create a very special holiday season this year. Christmas with Southern Living is a treasured tradition, and this new book is brimming with gift ideas, decorating DIYs, and, of course, delicious recipes. The best chefs in the South are at it again and they have collected more than 100 brand‑new recipes, plus party menus, for you to try. Southern Living’s style mavens have also jumped into the mix with decorating ideas galore, including wreaths and stunning floral displays that are guaranteed to wow guests. Try out their favorite tips and create festive vignettes around every corner. Let your home and table sparkle with holiday magic-this go‑to resource shows you how.”
My mother adored Christmas, both the true meaning and the decorating. Their house was magical during the holidays. People were always stopping by and Mother was the perfect hostess. She passed away December 1, 2006. Instead of that day being a sad one I choose to honor my mother by doing something she loved. I begin decorating for Christmas. I now live in my parents home and it is filled with wonderful memories. I’m always pleased with the results when I’m finished but I always think Mother would lovingly say, “Is that ALL you’re going to do?’
What a beautiful way to honor your mother. I am touched by your comment. I’ll be thinking about you both tomorrow, as it will be December 1. I have a few decorations to add and I’ll lighting the window candles and exterior lights on this day. Happy Advent!
Ahh...so relaxed now😊 It's a lot of work for a short season - I see nothing wrong with an early start. As a seasoned wind-in-my-face, frozen fingers, 66 yr. old Northerner, I feel I have earned the right to deck the outside as the weather dictates. I didn't turn on the decor lights until last night, though. Your home looks beautiful, Mary! Also, I never heard of Southern Living until about a decade ago when it started being sold here. My fave mag is Southern Home, so I subscribed to S. Living too. I dearly hope magazines never disappear! Thanks, as always, for a lovely visit, Mary 🦃🎄🏡
I love watching others decorate, and watching Christmas theme shows, craft and cooking videos, and the old holiday movies until after Thanksgiving. Then slowly, gradually, I start adding Christmas touches to my home, but I don't actually decorate it fully and I don't have a tree in my house. I used go full bore and decorate everything when my children were young, but not any more. Now, I have a separate building that I decorate for Christmas, which has the tree and lights and all the glitter and tinsel, where I host two large family gatherings in December. There is where I put most of my decorating and hosting efforts now. This will be our 16th year to host and we usually have about 30-35 people at each event. I do adore a decorated home, and yours is beautiful. Thank you for all you share with us!
I have always loved the Southern Living Christmas publications. They just inspire me to start decorating and maybe adding something new to our traditional dishes for Christmas. It’s always so lovely to spend time with you Mary. You are an elegant,sparkling gem at the week’s end. I hope you had a very Happy Thanksgiving ~Mary
That is such a kind and generous comment, thank you! I hope you have a great weekend.
Your house is a Christmas dream! I love the shots of your attic, now I don’t feel so bad about my own holiday storage in mine. It seems to multiply each season.
The older I get, the earlier I start decorating. If I didn’t do that I would never be able to host anything. I’m 70, but not ready to give it up yet.
I start the day after Halloween. I love it for all the reasons you stated. Makes me and every one who enters my home joyful. Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful 😊
My Friday isn't complete without setting down and watching your reviews on You Tube. We have our trees up! More decorations in line for tomorrow!
Thank you for letting me be a part of your Friday!
The cat peeking out of bag is adorable ❤❤ I love your Christmas decorations...beautiful
I start decorating first of November and it's non-stop...Thanksgiving night I turn all the lights on and I enjoy every second of the Christmas season ❤❤❤ it's the best time of the year
Thank you. I'm glad you are a fellow "early decorating enthusiast". It is the best time of the year.
My kitties love being involved in Christmas decorating too!😆 If I had it my way my Christmas decorations would stay up all year!!🥰❤️
Mary! This was a delight! I too have a Southern Belle for a mother who kept the latest issue of Southern Living on our coffee table. Every year, she gets so excited for the holiday edition, thus this joyous anticipation was handed down to me. This is also true for Victoria and Southern Lady. These publications are now a collection in our homes. As the holidays draw near each year, we pullout these beautiful magazines to help get us in the mood and inspire our decorating ambitions. Also, to help us decide on the menus for family gatherings.
Now your Daniela and the collards …….😂 to funny. He looks like he’s butchering a large stag, cutting the collards with that “sword”.😂 His antics cause my husband and I to giggle out loud!
So Thanksgiving 2024 is in the history books and now it’s on to Christmas. Look so forward to the holiday episodes you have in store. Thank you, Mary for your channel. I so much enjoy!
Thank you for your comment. Traditional Home, especially in the 1990s, always featured Charles Faudree in their Christmas edition and I LOVED those.
Daniel's antics are definitely giggle worthy! When I remark on the size of Daniel's knife, he always tells me "You never know when you may run into a bear"!
Yes! Traditional Homes too! Yes!
Thank you for the wonderful inspirations. You should wait for one holiday to be over before beginning the next one. Enjoy each holiday to the fullest. Have a wonderful Christmas holiday season. 😊
@@fanicakibner3921 They really were delicious. The orange glaze takes it to the level of near perfection!
I hope this doesn't sound presumptuous but you are a kindred spirit!🎅🌲
I love my southern living magazine that comes to my home
I feel happy to have the yearly b
Christmas book that I can pass to my daughter
Just fun inspiring and makes me think I can do this with the recipes
I just plain feel good reading and re reading over and over
I set down with a cup of coffee and get lost in the magazine
Thank you
How wonderful to have such big attic space for storage!!
I do love the storage space that the attic provides. One day I will organize it better...one day!
Oh what fun indeed 🎉 thanks once again for a great video! I have great memories of helping my mom make recipes and crafty things from Southern Living. Random question: how long can you keep your poinsettias outside... it's a balmy 31 degrees here in VA, and we can't do that!
Mom loved Southern Living Magazine for the recipes, travel, decor and the South was her home, when she didn’t live in 7 other places, including Guam.
Dearest Mary, I do hope you read later comments as well. I am so far behind on my youtube videos and just beginning now. To see your sweet cats, warmed my heart. We lost our precious Persian, Oliver, a week ago today. He was 17 years old and his absence is overwhelming for me. He was such a good boy and oh so smart too. We also have the flu bug in one fell swoop in one week. I enjoyed watching you decorate and the book review was nice. You are the perfect hostess. Missing my sweet boy ~ till next week.
Good Evening Mary,
Your home is so lovely and I enjoy when you share some of your personal interiors with us. I am one of those lucky and fortunate women who have enjoyed and treasured Southern Living Magazine for many years. Thank you for sharing !
Best Regards from GA ❤
Thanks Mary for all you do so we can have a relaxing time … a treat and getaway for a few moments ❤Merry Christmas ✨🎄
I certainly appreciate that! Thank you and Merry Christmas to you.
Love your christmas decorations and christmas flowers🎄💖🎅💖
Thank you!
Mary, I found my heart, you are keeping it in your attic ❤. A wonderful and inspiring moment in my day. Thank you for all you do!
I grew up in a very modest home and a small family so we didn't go all out with decor, but my mother subscribed to SL and ofcourse I did too after I married, flipping pages and dreaming of hosting lavish dinners.
Delightful as always! By all means decorate whenever you wish,the nay sayers need to remember that the glimpses of your personal life that you so graciously share are a privilege you extend to your viewers. If they don’t like what they see there’s no need to watch.
You are inside my head. 😄
Mary I needed the push to get in the Christmas spirit and decorate. You did a wonderful job. Love the wreaths on each window. Thanks
Really enjoyed the book and your prep. for Christmas!
Why are you so eager to pull on my heart strings? And why am I so content to to watch you decorate?
Southern Living magazine was a favorite of my Mom’s,I have yearbook from about 17 years ago,I had it out this week,some years have the best ideas ,I can’t bare to part with it ,I donated all my others ,a friend used to give it to me every year,but every time I look at that one I get an idea . I must look at the Dec. issue every year and to see the BIG WHITE CAKE,a white cake of some kind has been on the cover since 1995 ,I have made several over the years but always for New years ..I decorate outside the week before Thanksgiving but don’t turn the lights on .
Inside always the day after,my thoughts on decorating is WHATEVER MAKES YOU HAPPY . I am realizing a lot people cook collards at thanksgiving and Christmas,,we just didn’t. Tell Daniel I was checking out his Knife ! Definitely cook outside 😂. Thanks as always 🌿🌱
A whole book of Christmas and soul, and wishes and many idea..
Thank you very much..
🍃🍷🍃
PS: Your English is very good❣️..:))
( Just a joke..)🌺
@@guldenaydin9918 I don’t like to boast, but I am also fluent in sarcasm!
I unexpectedly wound up hosting two Thanksgiving dinners on separate days. The first dinner, our house was autumn themed, and the second was Christmas. So we had the best of both worlds.
Your home looks beautiful. I've always loved Southern Living, but I wonder how long magazines will last. My Millennial kids don't appreciate the thrill of a fresh magazine in the mailbox.
I love your beautiful home and watching you decorate.
We miss your Christmas introduction like you did last year? It was so special and it really got us into the holiday spirit!!! Are you considering doing the next few videos in December with last year’s introduction?? We love your videos and usually one the first to watch on Friday’s when you post them. Hope you and your family had a happy Thanksgiving!
That is great. I was going to begin using that intro in December. I appreciate that you remember it and thank you so much for watching!
Beautiful job decorating.i don't like to mix seasons so the day after Thanksgiving Christmas begins
Glad you All had a great time
Thank you, Mary, your outdoor Christmas decor is perfection…adore the window wreaths, front door garland, poinsettias! Especially loved Daniel trimming, cutting and cooking up the collard greens. The interaction between you two is endearing…always gives me the giggles. Your kitty comfortably hiding, then responding to you with the “slow blink I love you” was the best! Enjoy your week and wondering, will you be doing a home tour video once the interior decorating is complete? ♥🎄♥
Its always a lovely charming yourney with you Mary. I love it to be on your side and moving with you spiritualy to were ever you take me to your journey🌬️💖✨✨✨✨💖 did my tree today aswel.💖✨✨✨💖
Yeah🎉 another Friday night with sweet Mary 💕 Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving 😊
We did have a lovely Thanksgiving. I hope you did also, and thanks for letting me be a part of your Friday!
Thank you for this video, truly enjoyed it. I’ve never tasted collards, didn’t know they smell like sulfur. Very interesting. You have a lovely home. I look forward to visiting your library again. Merry Christmas 🎄 🙏❤️
Collards are a southern delicacy. We boil them, often with ham, and when the leaves are nice and soft, we add vinegar. I think they’re delicious. Thanks for watching and I hope you have a merry Christmas also.
Love the way you hung the wreaths on the windows, Mary.
Teamwork makes the dream work. Continued blessings and success
Love the garland at the door, love Christmas I enjoy your Chanel , thank you for sharing
I appreciate that very much!
Thank you for sharing.
Thank you, for New book...
Oh, Mary! I actually laughed when I saw your attic. I am not alone! My children used to grouch at me when I enlisted their help taking down Christmas decor from our attic. “Mom! Nobody needs this much Christmas stuff!” Now that they all have their own homes and families their attitudes have changed. I’ll soon be lucky to have anything left! (Slight exaggeration 😊) I think they each have a tree now that’s decorated with one of my retired themes or colour schemes. And not one of them limits themselves to a single tree. I’ve infected them all! But it’s lovely to see them carrying on all our old traditions. My job there is done.
You are funny. Job well done! You have passed the torch to a new generation of Christmas decor enthusiasts. Yes, the attic is a Christmas jungle, and I love it, but one day I will organize it a little better. 😁🎄
Thanks for them decorating inspiration Mary. I never focused on the Bailey House historic placque before. Did you explain that in a past video?
Yes, I have discussed that in previous videos. The house was built for George Bailey. I especially like that because it reminds me of "It's a Wonderful Life".
@@thetartantopiaryI edited a book by Florence Seymour, who dated Jimmy Stewart and said he wanted to marry her. She was Charles A. Pillars’ assistant, and wrote and published an art book.
Oh man! I didn’t grow collards this year. They look delicious. Southerners sure know how to do Christmas. I found that out when my husband was stationed in North Carolina when we were first married.
They were very good. I think Daniel has perfected this dish.
Set a cup of vinegar on the stove when cooking cabbage, collards, and the like. This will prevent the strong odor.
Great tip, I'll tell Daniel!
Dear Mary, Happy Holidays and I am already decorated for Christmas . I always put my decorations up early to enjoy them more because I go all out. I remember when my parents bought our beautiful family home and when I was 15 years old I decorated the house and won the gold cup for the best decorated house and I competed against many housewives who had florist decorate their homes. Well the next year I won 1st place again and then won 1st place a third time a few years after that and because I won 1st place the most of anyone they said after that I would get honorable mention for now on. Did I see Daniel put onions in the collards because I have never heard of that, did he get that from Miss Annie Faye whose barbeque chicken I loved and it was so simple if I remember! Hughie
I'm glad you are a fellow Christmas enthusiast. I love the story of how you, at the age of 15, won the Christmas decorating contest several years in a row!
Yes, Daniel did get the Collard recipe that includes onions- from Annie Faye! Daniel was touched that you remembered the BBQ chicken!
I started today. Oh gosh I wish I had attic space like you do for storage!! I have loads of Christmas decor! We have such high wind on the north of our house that it is hard to anchor things! I used to put wreaths on the upper windows and love that look, but now as age has come upon us it is too difficult to climb the ladder to hang them. Makes me sad. ❤❤
I am w you!! We ALL need a nice, cozy attic!!
Hi Mary ~~ I have always liked the Southern Living magazines too! My mom never had decorating magazines just romance haha. What do the "greens" taste like a spinach? I started decorating Thanksgiving since we didn't have a dinner and my hubby decided to go into work . I hope you give us a tour , your home is already looking lovely ! see you next week friend! Paula p.s. my daughter is doing better not so painful!
ДЯКУЄМО ЗА КРАСУ. ВАС ДИВИТЬСЯ УКРАЇНА ❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉
Gosh the flowers look so good but it is too cold here to have them outside. We have had several freezes already.😊
I had to bring them in today. We rarely get freezing temps this early, but of course, tonight it is supposed to be 29 degrees.
I wish my husband could cook😊
Yes, Christmas means a little more...than, ribbon etc.
Getting ready for Christmas many times you want to invent new decor of things that you have for more than 30yrs...it really takes time to decorates with the same things and create new ..arrangement...
God likes good administrators to use our money the best way .
The spirit of the new beginning ..of trying to be a better person every year...with the birthday of Jesus....Amen
Thank You!
Thanks for watching!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING !! MERRY CHRISTMAS !! Southern Living Magazine is a staple around my home for many decades. What would we do without it ???! You have the outside Christmas decorating down to a science Mary! Love the wreaths on the windows, Wish I could have them on our upper windows, but I am not climbing a two story ladder. I should have gotten outside earlier this week when temps were in the upper 70s to do the doors and mailbox, oh but nooooo I just had to wait until it is a raw wet 50* outside and windy. Everything looks delightful around your home and you constantly inspire me to get up and get the decorating done. Thank you for that! It was very interesting watching Daniel cook those collards, Great idea cooking them outside. Gotta try that this week! Sending XOXO to you and yours, Bren
The weather has been a roller coaster. I had the AC on while I was preparing the last few side dishes on Thursday, and I see tonight it's going to be 28 degrees! I appreciate your thoughtful comment and I'm excited that you feel inspired by the video. Thank you, Bren! Have a great week. xoxo in return-
Ahh, cats and bags and boxes. LOL. I'm in Canada and don't do Halloween at all, so my artificial trees go up on Oct 30th or 31st. The 2 weeks between our Thanksgiving and end of October to put up Christmas seems like a long stretch to wait for me, but I do. I usually cut down a real tree near the end of November or beginning of December, however, due to having eye surgery recently, cutting down and taking care of a real tree isn't going to happen this year, so I'll enjoy my 2 small tabletop artificial trees this year. I love your home. Nice that you have a fairly flat roof over your veranda to add the wreaths on the windows on the 2nd floor. They look lovely. Merry Christmas to your and yours.
I purchased a lovely Frasier fir on Monday, and it sits, trapped in net, in a bucket of water in my garage. All my decorations are still packed away, and I need to winterize my rose garden, but snow has thwarted my plans, so I might be decorating in the next couple of days. Early for this old southern Californian where Christmas was a very leisurely affair, but now in Grand Rapids, where there is a kind of frenzy for Christmas in all forms before the long, bleak winter. I did purchase, via Etsy, two lovely William Morris strawberry thief tea boxes for gifts from a lovely lady in Kyiv, Ukraine. It tugged at my heartstrings when she thanked me for having confidence in her, since we knew that fate could violently end the transaction. They arrived, and will be much appreciated, I'm sure, and I hope Olena will be okay. I'll be thinking of her as I decorate in he days ahead.
There is something especially comforting to be inside with the Christmas lights and beautiful greenery when is cold outside. I appreciate your support of the Etsy store. Your curmudgeon shell has been compromised again! 😁 Daniel ordered several things he needed for his knife making hobby from Ukraine. The items were shipped expeditiously and the individual selling these items was indeed grateful.
@@thetartantopiary Say it isn't so! I need to start practicing my "Bah, humbugs!"
Mary, will Daniel share his recipe for collards? I used to make them with hocks, but the ham hocks today have a chemical smoke flavor that I don’t like. Where do you land on whether to add sugar and or vinegar? And how long do you cook yours? Ala dente? Or soft enough to eat without dentures in?
Just catching up on this episode! I loved it as always!!
Mary, Thanks for sharing for your “collard” Thanksgiving and decorating your home for Christmas!
Mary, it's stuffing up north and dressing in the South!
Good to know- I must stay true to my southern roots! This is what I’ll say…”Daniel stuffs the turkey with dressing”! 😄
Your outdoor lanterns either side of your front door.. I need some exaxtly like them! Beautiful! Can you tell me their name and/or where you got them, please?
My nephew was selling these during a school fundraiser several years ago. I feel sure you may be able to find some similar at Hobby Lobby, Michael's or Pottery Barn.
I loved the SL magazine. When I moved to Co., the beautiful magazine just depressed me cuz I loved the Southern lifestyle, and definitely isn’t here in Co. what I wouldn’t do with a beautiful magnolia tree, or gorgeous azaleas.
I collect these.
I love it all!
Just thoroughly enjoyed your videos!
I'm so glad! Thank you.
Hi Mary! I'm so accustomed to your videos on Friday around noon that I watched 2 videos from years ago, while waiting for today's video to post. Loyal fan here. Happy X-Mas!
In Poland we have around midnight now. I like her videos as well. Happy X-Mas to You!
You are very sweet. I added some pics from yesterday to this video and did not anticipate the uploading process to take so long. Thanks for your patience.
@@tomjeery2741 Mary is simply THE BEST!
@@thetartantopiary I'm hooked, so I'm happy you were able to post!