Country Stars Preparing and Eating Big, Home Cooked Meals This Thanksgiving.

Since most country stars are either from the south or live there now, you can bet home cooked meals play a huge role in their Thanksgiving celebrations. Carrie Underwood is one of the stars cooking up a feast in her kitchen this Thanksgiving. She's inviting a bunch of her friends over to join her and husband Mike Fisher at home in Nashville for the holiday. She says, "There's a lot of us that don't have a whole lot of family that live nearby, so it's kind of a bunch of family-less people hanging out together eating and cooking and drinking wine and just having a good time." For the members of Rascal Flatts, Thanksgiving is all about those home-cooked delicacies like lead singer Gary LeVox's mother's lumpy mashed potatoes and his wife's corn casserole. His band mate Joe Don Rooney is a fan of green bean casserole and ham and turkey at Thanksgiving, and the Flatts' Jay DeMarcus swears by his grandmother's macaroni and cheese recipe.
Jay tells ABC News Radio, "It doesn't have that thick hard layer on top of it. It's creamy all the way through, so you don't have to deal with that burnt sort of top layer of cheese. It's creamy all the way."
Florida Georgia Line's Tyler Hubbard calls his grandmother's sweet potato casserole his "jam" on Thanksgiving.  He tells ABC News Radio, "I love it all. You know, green beans, macaroni and cheese and all that, but, man, that sweet potato casserole that my nanny makes, it's what I look forward to all year."
Justin Moore's family keeps things pretty simple when it comes to their Thanksgiving fare with turkey and dressing on the table. He says, "The dressing, I think is, to us, more important than the turkey. We’ve got a family recipe that’s, to us, really, really good." Jana Kramer loves getting back home to her grandparents' house on Thanksgiving thanks in large part to the food. "My favorite things to eat at Thanksgiving when I'm home is my grandpa's stuffing 'cause it's so good," Jana says. "And then I have one of my favorite deserts, which is made by my grandma, and it is pumpkin pie. Yum!" Hunter Hayes heads down south to see his family in Louisiana on Thanksgiving each year. Both of his grandmothers are masters in the kitchen, and he says, "One in particular will cook for days for this meal, and it is epic. My grandmother goes all out. She cooks the best -- she cooks everything under the sun."

Big Machine Records Teams With Colonial Candle Company For Holiday CD + Candle!

Yuletide cheer is coming and you can spread a little thanks to a cool, Christmas promotion featuring your favorite country superstars. Big Machine Records and Colonial Candle have partnered just in time for the holiday season. An all-star lineup of country artists singing their favorite Christmas carols – coupled with the magical scent of a yuletide fire and fresh cut pine – provides a perfect transition into the holiday season. The new luxury boxed gift set features an exclusive holiday CD packaged with an 8-ounce Colonial Candle "Holiday Sparkle"-fragranced candle. Suggested retail price for the gift set is $25. It's beginning to sound and smell a lot like Christmas thanks to this set!

Click Here to see the artist line up!

Eight Random Facts About July 4th...

#1.) Americans spend $111 MILLION on popsicles and charcoal for July 4th weekend.

#2.) Americans spend $203 MILLION just on CONDIMENTS for July 4th. That's more than the $193 MILLION we spend on hamburger patties.

#3.) No July 4th spending compares to FIREWORKS we spend at least $600 MILLION on 'em nationwide.

#4.) Over 80% of the American flags in the U.S. were made in China.

#5.) When America became an independent nation in 1776, it had a population of 2.5 million. Now the population is over 311 million.

#6.) Last year, New York City had the largest fireworks display in the U.S. It included 22 tons of fireworks about the same weight as six elephants.

#7.) Last year there were 11,000 firework-related injuries more than half of which were minor burns on the hands. There was only one death and that was a guy balancing a mortar shell in a tube on his head.

#8.) The 4th of July is the biggest holiday for beer sales, with approximately 68.3 MILLION cases of beer sold. The rest of the top five, in order are: Labor Day, Memorial Day, Father's Day (--awesome), and Christmas.