Black-eyed peas -- as far as I knew, they were just a singing group. But apparently -- they're a huge New Year's Eve foodie hit, too.

But ... why?

Well it's actually a superstition more common in the South, which may explain why this CT gal is out of the loop. Southern folklore teaches that a "mess o' greens" served with black-eyed peas on New Year's Day will bring financial success and and good luck.

The tradition dates back to the Civil War when Union soldiers raided the Confederates' on New Year's Eve, leaving them with only black-eyed peas and salted pork. The only thing that kept them alive the next day was their leftover food items, and now -- these foods are considered, yup, lucky. Hmmm, I wonder if black-eyed peas will help me win the Mega Millions ...

Read on for a few black-eyed peas recipes to up your luck for 2011.

If you're like thousands of other women, you're contemplating ideasfor your New Year's Eve Party. And of course, the biggest item on your to-do list: Figure out the menu.

I can forsee your thought process now: It's New Year's Eve! It has to be perfect. I'll need to get a good champagne. Friday's New Year's Eve!  What should I make?! This only happens once every 365 days! IT'S NEW YEAR'S EVE!

GET A GRIP. Breathe. Allow us to rescue you.

The good news: You don't need to serve an entire on meal, because if there was ever a holiday focused on the drinks -- it's this one. Our solution? Finger foods.

What's two stories tall, 16 feet wide, and takes 460 hours to build?

That would be the ginormous gingerbread house in the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.

The place is actually built to code, so every one of the three entrances (front, back, and side) is more than big enough for everyone but Yao Ming to enter through without so much as a knee bend.

Every year the Fairmont does some sort of gingerbread house, and every year it's gotten bigger and bigger. But this time they've outdone themselves. Waaay outdone themselves.

A really outstanding bottle of champagne, like Dom Perignon, will run you about $150 a bottle. But what about those bubblies a couple (or five) tiers down the social strata, say the under $25 range you can get at most liquor stores? Are they even worth buying or would your guests barely know the difference if you popped open a 6-pack?

With New Year's Eve right around the corner, The Stir was determined to find out. We performed our own cheap champagne taste test for the connoisseur on a budget.

We selected 7 champagnes based on popularity and price. We tried to keep it somewhat classy -- with nothing under $9.99. And of course, we wanted you to be able to find these bottles in a crunch. Fear not, you'll have no problem locating these brands at your local liquor store or outlet. 

Ho ho ho and a Merry early Christmas to you! Emmy the elf here. We're here working our little booties off at the North Pole and know that you and your families are highly anticipating our arrival tomorrow night. So much so, that you're already wondering how to track Santa this 2010.

Well do not fret, my friends! We may be small elves but we have the power of technology on our side. We've teamed up with some military head honchos to secure us vital airspace and have little fears about the weather conditions getting in our way. Santa does live in the North Pole, after all.

So what do you need to know to track the big guy in red and white tomorrow night?

Kwanzaa, a week-long celebration lasting from December 26 to January 1 in honor of African American culture, means one important thing to many people: Really good food. Even the word "Kwanzaa" is derived from the Swahili phrase meaning first fruits of the harvest. 

Traditional Kwanzaa celebrations include lots of African foods, from fufu to jollof rice to Jamaican jerked pork to banku. But if you don't have the time to prepare seven days' worth of authentic African meals, try going the Southern route and serve up hearty soul food dishes. Some are particularly useful since you can try out these dishes both at Kwanzaa and Christmas -- many families celebrate both.

While not typical African dishes, the 7 delicious picks are the types of dishes that come up when you search for "Kwanzaa" in sites like Food Network and Epicurious, so don't murder the messenger!

The holidays don't stop on December 26! In fact that's the first day of Kwanzaa so get your kids involved in the winter holiday that lasts for seven days, until January 1. But first, you may need to explain to the kids what Kwanzaa is all about since it's a fairly new holiday, started by Dr. Maulana Karenga in 1966 for Africans and African-Americans to celebrate family, community, and culture.

If you celebrate Christmas, explain to your kids that Kwanzaa is a sectarian holiday, so there's no conflict of interest. The word Kwanzaa means "first fruits" in Swahili, which is a nod to harvest. And the seven days of Kwanzaa symbolize the seven principles of Kwanzaa: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.

But what the kids really need to know is you're celebrating your heritage, your family, and your community. Let the crafts begin!

I'm not Italian-American, but after hearing about their traditional Christmas Eve feast, I sure do wish I was. Pork and poultry tend to dominate the holiday meals, but on Christmas Eve, it's Italian tradition to host a meal called Feast of the Seven Fishes. The seafood tradition dates back to medieval times, when people used to fast, refraining from eating meat or milk products. Since neither meat nor butter could be used, Catholics would instead eat fish, usually fried in oil.

Nowadays, people skip the fasting part and go straight to the feasting, with 7 (if not more) different types of seafood dishes. Even if you're not Italian-American, you can still be inspired by their delicious tradition. Here are 7 fish dishes for your own Feast of Seven Fishes: