Linda Arnaud's The Artful Christmas (Stewart Tabori & Chang, 2002, $29.95) is a feast for the eyes.

The 80 beautiful photographs of Christmas dinner tables include pictures of sumptuous foods such as glistening poached pears and braised duck legs, as well as decorations from delicate angels to brightly dressed teddy bears.

Each chapter centers on a holiday theme and includes a menu, wine suggestions, decorating tips and a brief discussion of various Christmas traditions, such as the creche, Santa Claus and Christmas cards.

Arnaud, a former marketing analyst who became a caterer and is now a consultant, gives ideas for Christmas parties, a Christmas Eve dinner, a Christmas Day lunch, a white Christmas dinner, a Boxing Day dinner, a Twelfth Night in town, a holiday lunch and a country Christmas.

For the Christmas Eve dinner, for example, Arnaud draws on her Ukrainian heritage to suggest borscht, sauteed spicy shrimp, oysters with lemon, caviar with toast, sea scallops with red lettuce and a whole roasted salmon accompanied by pirogi, leeks and asparagus. The meal is topped off with cheesecake and berries. She suggests decorations of Victorian greeting cards and vintage china to accentuate the romantic setting.

The 40 recipes in the book vary from simple side dishes like the Grape Tomato, Cauliflower and Broccoli Salad to more complicated (and expensive) dishes like Individual Truffle-Scented Cheese Souffles and scrambled quail eggs.

The recipes I tried didn't please my palate nearly as much as the photographs pleased my eyes, but that may have been due more to my own tastes rather than any fault of the recipes, which were clearly written and easy to follow.

Here's a cranberry sauce that Arnaud recommends to accompany game, pork or poultry at the holidays or year-round.

Maple-Walnut Cranberry Sauce

Makes about 3 cups

1/4 cup cranberry juice

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1/4 teaspoon maple extract

1/4 cup brown sugar

12 ounces fresh cranberries

1/4 cup finely ground walnuts

Combine the cranberry juice, syrup, maple extract and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the cranberries and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the cranberries have popped and the mixture is a bit thick and syrupy.

Add nuts. Remove from heat and let cool.

Transfer to an attractive glass jar or other container and refrigerate for at least 1 day.