Trailer park queen Boxcar's latest is not your typical high-falutin' holiday planning guide requiring a professional chef and team of 12, but a "real-life" look at Christmas, "warts and all." Boxcar (Ruby Ann's Down Home Trailer Park Cookbook
; Dear Ruby Ann
) divides this domestic handbook of sorts into 13 chapters (one for each of the 12 days before Christmas, and one dedicated to "Christmas Day Itself"), and includes photos, cherished memories of seasons past at Arkansas' High Chaparral Trailer Park, and gift ideas, taking into account traditional versus trailer park styles, e.g., "four cars on blocks" instead of "four callin' birds." With a seemingly endless source of comedy fodder, the beautician/entertainer/singer/syndicated columnist/author proposes tons of hilarious helpful hints, like using washed-out Miracle Whip jars as potpourri containers, tipping service people with Taco Bell coupons and using "the blanket that your spouse or parent snuck out of jail when they finished servin' their time" as a decorative tree skirt. Step-by-step instructions for making Mrs. Claus tissue box covers and clothespin Santas will surely brighten readers' spirits as they approach Christmas Eve (which honors "twelve drunks a-drinkin' "), while the recipes for food and drinks are guaranteed to "put the Feliz in your Navidad." (Oct.)
