“Feed the dog our peas and carrots. / Fa la la la la la la la la! / Food tastes better when you wear it. / Fa la la la la la la la la.” Th e lyrics of the familiar Christmas carol have been rewritten to capture the essence of a chaotic holiday family gathering, with a houseful of rowdy cousins and harassed, overworked grownups. The illustrations are a bit too tame and pale for all of the bedlam described herein, but this reworking of an old chestnut is fresh and funny.

Let’s face it; wassailing and chestnuts just don’t accurately reflect most kids’ Christmases. Enter this fractious take on “Deck the Halls.” First, there is the big dinner with the extended family: “Uncle Harvey stands before us. / Fa la la la la / la la la la / Why do aunts and uncles bore us? / Fa la la la la / la la la la.” Dealey’s five rascally kids do plenty of eye rolling, rule breaking, and acting out, from shuttling veggies to the dog under the table to playing “olive hockey.” That is why, in short, this would make for an excellent sing-along—can’t you hear the entire school bellowing along? Ward nicely balances Dealey’s mayhem with shiny-cheeked, round-featured art that keeps the little hooligans just this side of lovable. Sheet music is included.

This hilarious parody of the familiar Yuletide carol starts with mashed potatoes on the walls and ends with cousins sliding downhill in the snow and the whole family singing carols together.

The traditional Christmas song of “Deck the Halls” has a buoyant rhythm but relatively sedate words and images, such as boughs of holly. This version features a group of five cousins who like to mix things up and enjoy their food in some nontraditional ways. As the song begins, the cousins are mashing potatoes, flipping blobs onto the walls. The kids make a snowman out of tomatoes and more mashed potatoes and try olives on their fingers and celery stalks behind their ears. As the family dinner disintegrates, the cousins play olive hockey with celery-stalk sticks; major splashes of gravy result before sensible aunts and uncles intervene. Each line of text is interspersed with the traditional refrain of “Fa la la la la, la la la la” in large type, and the new song lyrics can be sung to the old tune, following along in suitably merry measure. Amusing illustrations and a large format make this a fine choice for singing along with a group, and the traditional words and music are also included.

“ ’Tis the season to be jolly,” after all, and this rollicking parody neatly fits the bill. (Picture book. 4-8)