Christmas- What's on the menu?

[1905]

I'm having company Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I keep changing my mind on what to serve. I was originally thinking ordering food from an Italian resaurant, but now I think I'll make a turkey and a few sides on the 24th, and make a ham on the 25th. I'm trying not to stress out over it.

husband's family likes certain drinks and desserts so I know what to do there, liquor and chocolate.

What are your plans?

 

[DammitJanet]

Xmas eve is always Oyster Stew at my house.

 

[HaoZi]

Dinner on the 21st at boyfriend's place with Kiddo, a friend and her daughter. Friend is bringing her chili-grape jelly meatballs and mac & cheese, boyfriend is making chocolate chip peppermint cookies and honey chicken, I'm making a triple layer eggnog pudding pie and likely a chocolate cherry pudding pie as well.

Like as not I'll be working a split shift on Christmas day, and we're eating Christmas lunch with his family. My family lives too far away for us to spent holidays with them.

 

[Hound dog]

Ham (I bought 2 just in case lol ) augratin potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli casserole (holiday staple), home canned green beans, homemade rolls, and Katie is covering dessert so I'm not sure there. It sounds like sugar cookies, brownies and fudge.

 

[BusynMember]

We are going to Chicago and my Chef Kid will be cooking then But when we come home it will be Christmas Eve and if anyone can share...any easy, but yummy unusual recipes I can make for Christmas Day? It will just be the four of us...hub, me, Sonic and Jumper. I'd like to use the slow cooker for the main dish, but it has to really taste good! We're coming back on Dec. 24th (from Chicago) and will get home in the afternoon sometime. So I'm going to be too tired to cook the conventional way on Christmas Day. Thanks in advance for any help

 

[Wiped Out]

Christmas Eve is always lasagna (I hope I can find some good gluten free lasagna noodles since that is new for me this year). I haven't decided yet on the Christmas meal. Usually we have ham but a few times we have had pizza. In my old age I am getting very lazy-I wouldn't mind just a fruit platter! However, I don't think easy child/difficult child would be thrilled. She wants ham and my special potatoes along with my maple glazed carrot recipe. I told her only if she plans on helping!

 

[DammitJanet]

Haozi I want those pie recipes! I like eggnog and I have a son coming who absolutely LOVES chocolate covered cherries. He would eat the whole pie himself...lol.

 

[JKF]

I want the pie recipes too! They sound amazing!!

We're doing Christmas Eve brunch at my in laws so I'm making a caramel French toast casserole. We'll be here Christmas Eve - just the three of us - so I think I'll do a ham. Not sure of sides yet but probably loaded mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole and biscuits. Mmm!

Christmas Day we'll go to my Aunt's. All I have to bring is a dip. Either spinach dip or buffalo chicken dip. She always makes an amazing dinner so I'm sure we'll be stuffed!

Then the day after back to my in laws for my father in law's birthday. We're doing pulled pork and cole slaw and home made Mac and cheese.

I'm going to need to get my "fat pants" out after eating like that for three days!!

 

[Mattsmom277]

Turkey, carrots, turnip, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, glazed ham, french Canadian meat pie. If I skipped any of these, I'd be in trouble. We stick to our holiday meal traditions, I'd have a rebellion otherwise. Adding new things would be a waste as we already have too much leftover to begin with. Even more this year, as its the first time in over a decade that I'm not having family here for dinner. Just easy child, s/o and I. We will do our dinner the 24th, and our back to back movies in our new pj's on the 25th, followed by leftovers and turkey soup which I'll make in slow cooker before we go to the theater. I am eager, turkey dinner is my fav but the the leftovers are the best for me. I love picking. Hot turkey sandwiches with gravy and green sweetpeas. OMG.

I hosted a party here today with tons of food. The crowd favorite was a crock pot chicken chili. Seriously delicious and super healthy. First time making it, and won't be the last. easy child must have eaten 3-4 bowls by the time she went to bed tonight. I don't think she touched anything else in the fair amount of party food I prepped.

I am a foodie, so all of your meals sound delicious. Imagine a board gathering with a potluck??? I'd probably settle in by the food table and take one bite of everything lol

 

[muttmeister]

I made turkey for Thanksgiving so will not do one for Christmas. We usually have cranberry bbq pork loin for Christmas and prime rib for new years but this year it will just be my mother, one son, and me so we decided to do the prime rib for Christmas and I'll buy steaks for New Years.
It's really not much fun to cook a big dinner for only 3 people, especially when you're used to having about a dozen. Oh, well....

 

[InsaneCdn]

MuttM... instead of going "big" you go "special"... come up with some scrumptious deserts and side-dishes, and enjoy yourselves!

 

[susiestar]

My stepMIL goes to Sam's and gets a bunch of frozen stuff to cook. It is always super yummy, usually with tamales and another dish like enchiladas from a small mexican restaurant where they know the owners well (owners moved to OK from Mexico maybe 10 yrs ago and are amazing cooks!) but nothing fancy goes on.

We have a tradition that stems from my Dad's Dad. He believed that Christmas was a holiday for everyone, not everyone but Mom and the older females. So he cooked a ham while everyone else went to Midnight Mass on the 24th and on Christmas Day we had sandwiches, cold salads, a relish tray, etc..... Shortly after my Gma died and my aunt took over, her husband pressed us all into a big cooked meal and we tried it for 2 yrs and then no one would go back to her house for Christmas because we all HATED the big sit down meal, the hours of preparation, the endless cleanup. So we are back to the easy fix meal. We have only ever had my aunt's husband want the big meal. We often have guests who either cannot get home to their parents for some reason or are from other countries and new to local traditions and they always LOVE the meal. It is mostly buffet style and you can sit and have a big plate when you are hungry or nibble for several hours, whatever you like.

We often do a dessert tray with several items served in small portions, like brownies, cream puffs, candies, etc.... Last year J and I took oreos and dipped them in brownie batter (any recipe or mix is fine) and then put them into cupcake liners in muffin tins and baked for maybe half the time on the package (had to keep checking htem because not sure the time they take to bake). WOW! they were wonderful! I also take a package of oreos and mix with a bar of cream cheese in the food processor (or blender). Chill, roll into balls and dip into melted white chocolate (can use almond bark, white choc chips, those Wilton wafer things, whatever) and then let harden in cupcake papers (use the mini size or you get too big a ball and it is a bit overhwhelming).

I also melt white choc and mix in crushed candy canes or starlight mints, then put a small dollop onto a small pretzel. You can also dip pretzel rods into the mix or into the white choc and roll in the crushed mints if you want to look fancier. either way, majorly wonderful.

If you like hot cider, crockpots are awesome for heating and serving it. Though sometimes we have to use a second one for that cause we have taco soup in the crockpot - easy to make, everyone loves it, and easy to serve.

One festive touch if you want brownies or fudge or even to do a simple choc chip recipe - make them in a jelly roll pan or 9x13 pan, and then while warm but not too hot, use small cookie cutters to cut into festive shapes. For fudge you can warm the fudge that gets pulled away and pour it into a small pan and make more shapes. We often have the excess eaten before that though! Alton Brown has a super easy, yummy peanut butter fudge recipe, and I use that and sub melted choc chips for the pb to make choc fudge. I cannot make cooked fudge to save my life, so I make the easy recipes! I like this recipe because it does not use sweetened condensed milk or have any cooking.

 

[DammitJanet]

Still hoping Haozi sees this and passes on the eggnog pie and chocolate cherry pies...lol. If not I am gonna hit the search engines. I have got to make that chocolate cherry one for Jamie.

We are not going to make a huge Xmas dinner on the actual Xmas day because Jamie wont be coming until the day or two after xmas and I cant see making two big Xmas dinners back to back. I know we will do the Oyster Stew on xmas eve because that is a tradition from my childhood that I brought into my family and we just enjoy it. I have no idea if Buck will even show up for that because he doesnt like oysters and I wont make two different things just because he doesnt like it. I wont even make something different for Billy and he has learned to eat it...lol. It isnt his favorite thing and he wont order oysters any other time of the year but xmas is different. Cory will probably drop by for a bowl but Mandy probably wont because she doesnt like it either. Oh well. More for me!

Xmas will probably be ham, sweet potato casserole , potato salad, brussel sprouts (a ton), mac n cheese because of the kids, and rolls. That will be for when Jamie is there. I think our meal for the real Xmas day I will make a lasagna. I make a mean lasagna from scratch if I do say so myself.

 

[LittleDudesMom]

I've got family here from the 22nd through the 27th so I'm planning multiple meals! Christmas Eve is always everyone's favorite appetizers! It's fun - we meet in the kitchen beginning in the afternoon and we all prepare our favs - so far on the menu that night is party meatballs (difficult child's fav), pigs in a blanket (easy child's fav), blue cheese and fig pinwheels (my fav), mini crab cakes (my brother's fav), baked brie with mango chutney (mom's fav), and then some healthier options! We have a big formal brunch in the dining room Christmas Day about 11 or 12, after drinking mimosas for hours! Christmas dinner is a smaller meal since that brunch is a groaning board of food - we'll prepare some red potatoes and parsley, green beans, baked spiral honey ham, and croissants. easy child's friends always come over in the evening and grab a plate as well and we'll have difficult child's best bud (who lost both his parents) spending the day and night with us as well as some of my family.

Tons to do but looking forward to getting this work week over since I'll be off next week with the exception of doing payroll from home next week.

Happy Prepping!!

Sharon

 

[Tiapet]

Per usual, we always have turkey on Thanksgiving so I don't like it on Christmas (that's because I don't care for turkey to begin with! lol). I always get a spiral ham with fired in glaze. It's better then any ham I've ever had. It's weird, the turkey was the promotional one you get from the grocery store and this year somehow we lucked out and ended up able to get 2 so I have another sitting in the freezer. Well as luck would have it, the ham came (it was from Swiss Colony) and the juices from it were leaking so badly from it all over and the postal lady had to wrap it in another plastic bag. Not to mention the box it's packed in was starting to break down. I called them and told them about it so they immediately overnight expressed a replacement! Now I have 2 hams too!



Anyway, our tradition is Christmas eve we used to go out when the difficult child's were little and semi still able to be handled in public better. Now they just seem to fight and this one doesn't like that and that one doesn't like this or don't want to sit by that one, etc. Far too many issues or squabbles occur that it just can't be done so we usually order something in. Often it's Chinese. A big splurge but I'm not really in the mood for that this year so I'm thinking of maybe doing Italian from a place down the road that is pretty decent. Not sure quite yet though.

On Christmas day we'll have pancakes and sausage for breakfast but not until after the difficult child's open their gifts (a tradition that started years ago when they were little and couldn't wait). Then I have crackers and cheese for everyone to munch on during the day. Late afternoon we'll have ham. Normally we'd have baked potatoes and green beans but Hound mentioned scalloped potatoes and broccoli casserole and those sound yummy so maybe I might switch it up and do them! (thanks HOUND! ) Dessert? I don't think we're going to need it. The kids have a ton of candy for Christmas so I'm not going to anything as I know they will pig out on it all as they usually do!

 

[hearts and roses]

It should be a relatively quiet christmas this year, just us.

We usually have our big meal on Christmas Eve and I get a honey baked ham company ham so we will have that. Ill also cook a small turkey breast since I don't care for ham much. Sides will include roasted root vegetables and green beans, sauerkraut, applesauce and my crab-orange chutney and other condiments.

Christmas morning we will have a big breakfast, open gifts, chill, go to the movies and graze on leftovers for dinner. And I'll have things for a variety of appetizers and if course lots of cookies!! I love these kinds of Christmases...without all the hullabaloo. But I will also miss the big gathering as well.

 

[Jody]

Christmas Eve we are having buffalo hot wings made at home, vegetables with ranch dressing. Spinach and cheese ravioli, with a ton of fresh garlic and a homemade tomato sauce. A fiesta dip from Tastefully Simple. Pumpkin spice chocolate chip cookies. Christmas Day, any leftovers we want, and a breakfast casserole, and I always make white chicken chilli to have in the crockpot all day. Plenty of good food, not things that necessarily go together, but some of our favorites.
Opening a couple presents as my kids are getting older and they like to shop for themselves, but I have a couple of small surprises for each. We play the old Nintendo 64, pacman, mario kart and space invaders, oh and also Mario Party.

 

[JJJ]

We have the same thing everyyear...

Christmas Eve...Honeybaked Ham (the one time per year we splurge), cheesy potato casserole, green bean almondine and deviled eggs

Christmas Morning...Eggs, bacon, potatos and MONKEY BREAD!!

Christmas Day...Turkey with all the sides

Christmas Night....ham and turkey sandwiches

I'm the crazy dessert maker in our family. This year I am making a cheescake, a sweet potato cheescake, apple pie, pumpkin pie and some cookies. My mom and sister will also bring cookies. Everything I make is gluten free so I can eat all I want....cause calories don't count on Christmas!

 

[everywoman]

Christmas Eve I believe I am going to try my hand a She-Crab soup----probably have a pot of chili for those who don't like it. Lots of sweets being baked over the weekend---found a recipe for Pecan Pie Cake that I am dying to try. difficult child and his girlfriend and son will be over. Expecting lots of drop ins.

Christmas Day---Jana is doing all the cooking at her home---wow---my princess is all grown up and will be hosting Mike and I, and her boyfriends parents and family.

Dec. 29th---I will host all of my family and friends for a late Christmas with oldest and grands and my 50th birthday party. Mike is doing all the prep and cooking---probably Shrimp Creole and Roasted Oysters.

 

[trinityroyal]

We do Christmas in waves, to accommodate the schedule conflicts / other families / travel plans of various family members.

Christmas Eve -- our traditional Christmas Movie night. We have a movie marathon and watch the old classics: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, The Grinch (original, not that rotten remake), It's a Wonderful Life, and the 1951 Christmas Carol with Alistair Sim. We keep the menu pretty simple, so that we can all nibble in front of the telly rather than having a proper sit-down meal. In past years we've ordered in Chinese or Thai or pizza, depending on people's moods. This year I might cook something simple.

Christmas Day -- Christmas Dinner #1
Turkey with stuffing and gravy
Cranberry sauce
Salad -- probably field greens with balsamic vinaigrette, possibly Casear
Lots of vegetable dishes -- probably squash, mushrooms, corn, carrots, maybe turnips and beets. Hey -- maybe I'll mix the turnips, beets, squash and carrots into a roasted root vegetable thingy. I'll have to play around with that.
Dessert -- white chocolate cheesecake with caramel sauce, traditional cheesecake with blueberry topping, ginger snaps, gingerbread men, sugar cookies, and a Christmas Tree cake (a chocolate cake, baked in a tree-shaped pan, frosted with green icing and then topped with sweets for ornaments)

Boxing Day -- Christmas Dinner #2
Same as Christmas Day. I will probably cook everything that won't be ruined by early prep on the one day, and just reheat on Boxing Day.

Between Christmas and New Years
We usually have some sort of get-together for those who couldn't make it for Christmas Dinner # 1 or 2.
This year I will serve a cold veggie tray, barbecued pork tenderloin, a Caesar salad (or field greens if I make the Caesar for Christmas Dinners), and cookies/brownies/squares for dessert.

New Year's Eve
Usually we throw a fairly big NYE party. This year it's either going to be our BFFs and us, or just us. It depends on how BFF L is feeling. She's still recovering from the stroke she had this summer, and a long evening might be too much for her. We're keeping it small in case she can make it, and even smaller in case she can't.

The menu will likely be the Chinese or Thai takeout that I didn't order for Christmas Eve. Or perhaps the pizza, if that's what everyone feels like having.