Does your Christmas Dinner change year to year - if so when do you start to plan?

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LPBeier

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I haven't started a thread (other than What's for dinner?) in awhile. The reason for this one is a young newlywed is having both families over for the first time for Christmas and she asked me "I have no idea what to make - how long does it take to plan out the meal?

I make pretty much the same meal each year, but try to change up the sides. I usually start looking now for the right accompaniments to the turkey and ham.

How about everyone else? Now that thanksgivings are over (in North America anyway), when do YOU start planning that perfect Christmas meal, or do you just stick with family traditions? Have fun with this!
 
There's really not much to plan. Where holiday meals are bound in tradition, a lot of the planning is done for you ahead of time and you just have to fill in a few blanks.

We have roast beef for Christmas dinner. It's either a standing rib roast or a tenderloin roast depending on our mood and whether or not my youngest is going to be present. The sides are fairly standard.

The variations are in the desserts. The pies and cookies I don't make for Thanksgiving, I make for Christmas. So this year we will be having a pumpkin pie and oatmeal raisin cookies (I may sub dried cranberries for the raisins). If I can get my grandson interested, we will bake some easy cookies for Santa.

SO bakes about a ton of different desserts; cakes, cookies, breads and other stuff so we are never at a loss.

So I guess we could say we plan the meal a month in advance or that it's been planned for years.
 
We have combined family tradition with new... swedish meatballs with a cream gravy for Christmas Eve (leaving the lutefisk behind!), and since it's been usually just our immediate family (can't really trust the weather to cooperate for travel), it's been prime rib on Christmas day.
 
In our family, Christmas was always the same as Thanksgiving! UGH bleck!! So sence I have my own fmaily now.. I am trying to change that up a bit! I have a list of candies I will be making, which I useally do for gifts!

As far as candies.... I will be making...
Peanutbutter fudge, which I have my own simple thing I do and it makes goooy oooy fudge which most enjoy.
Chcolate fudge, spritzer cookies, peanutbutter cups, white chocolate coverd pretzles, sugar cookies, peanutbuttercookies with chocolate chips... (yes I am a huge peanutbutterfan as well is most my family) then I wanted to try out some new things ...pumpkin bars and everlasting Magic Bars!
For my dinner menu.... I'm doing a honey spiral ham this year.
mashed potatoes and gravy
corn
glazed carrots
homemade cranberry sauce
dinner rolls...
(thats it so far I haven't cracked open betty crocker cook book yet.) But i useally make a fancy dish or two.

I was also thinking about doing some lamb steaks...they are divine wraped in bacon and baked! Anything is divine wraped in bacon! :D

Anyway those are just osme of my ideas. It will become cleaer once I get closer to that final date!
 
Wyogal, hoping you still have lefse though! Mmmmm...I love lefse.

LP, our Christmas dinner is pretty standard, the changes for me come with counting the number of heads joining us at the table. I usually take stock at the beginning of December and figure out how many I'm feeding and plan from there. I tend to plan for more folks as we sometimes end up with a few last minute additions.
 
I am still in the "thinking" stage. I think......Baked Ham, Stuffed Ham, Baked Mac-n-Cheese, Sweet Potato Casserole, Veggies and Yeast Rolls. I haven't given any thought to desserts yet.
 
With my family, Thanksgiving and Easter are traditional (more or less), but Christmas is pretty open to whatever someone wants to fix. We've had simple buffet dinners (casseroles); complicated turkeys, hams and fixin's; and even just hors dourves (both en-mass and fancy - plain and simple); but whatever, it's been fun! I think this year it's going to be Cornish Game Hens with two simple vegetable sides for dinner (no heavy starches), and then a fancy deli meat and cheese platter available the entire day. One fancy dessert (as yet undetermined) and a tray of Swiss Colony Petit Fours to finish things off.
 
This is my first holiday season as a vegetarian. Turkey Day was pretty good. I skippd the bird and had sides, and made meatless stuffing, which was delicious.
Christmas is up in the air. I think it will just be the kids and me instead of going to a friend's house and sharing in the cooking, which is what we did for Thanksgiving.

My husband is deployed, so I think we'll do something simple but yummy, I may even let the kids decide. I've been looking around in my food magazines and cook books for ideas for a nice meatless but celebratory meal.
I'll probably make fudge, and of course Christmas cookes for the kids to frost, but I'm not sure what else.

Last year we had beef tenderloin. It was heavenly. Sort of a "farewell meat" meal....
 
I've been looking around in my food magazines and cook books for ideas for a nice meatless but celebratory meal....

Vegetable curries are a popular holiday meal in much of the world. You could fix two styles, one plain and one with fried tofu, and have cubed chicken on the side to be added to the kid's bowls at serving.

Many people don't realize that turkey, geese and ham aren't the only traditional foods at Christmas. Many nations celebrate and many prepare meatless meals, sometimes for religious reasons.

May you and your entire family be blessed this Christmas season - from an ex-navy sailor.
 
nope, lefse will be gone by then. I have never learned how to make it, and only like my parent's lefse!!
 
Most times it's prime rib, this year the kids asked me to make a Beef Wellington...I plan to but it's going to be a bit different than I use to do. I'll make a paste of parsley,marjoram,sauteed mushrooms,garlic and onions...on the puff pastry first goes on slices of thin prosciutto, then I'll coat the meat with the paste and wrap the whole thing up and put it seam side down in my pan...Garlic mashed potatoes, roasted squash filled with butter, brown sugar, and toasted chopped nuts and some chopped dried apricots.
A salad, and of course some type of gravy. Dessert, creme brulee and pears with almonds and sherry.
kadesma
 
LPBeier said:
Does your Christmas Dinner change year to year

Yes and No...Some traditional stuff....Cornbread Dressing no matter what!
Right now....Double Smoked Ham and Smoked Duck and Andouille Gumbo!
Still thinking about what else........:rolleyes:
 
One Christmas growing up, Mom had surgery just before and was not up to cooking. She had 2 homemade pizzas in the freezer. Dad made scrambled eggs for breakfast then pulled out the pizzas. We had so much fun that year it became our standard Christmas meal. Now that Mom is gone, we still use her recipe and whoever is hosting makes the pizza for everyone. The rest of us bring cookies, candies, Chex mix, chips and dips, cheese and crackers etc. Whatever kind of fingerfood you want. Then we spend the day grazing while opening gifts and playing games.
 
One Christmas growing up, Mom had surgery just before and was not up to cooking. She had 2 homemade pizzas in the freezer. Dad made scrambled eggs for breakfast then pulled out the pizzas. We had so much fun that year it became our standard Christmas meal. Now that Mom is gone, we still use her recipe and whoever is hosting makes the pizza for everyone. The rest of us bring cookies, candies, Chex mix, chips and dips, cheese and crackers etc. Whatever kind of fingerfood you want. Then we spend the day grazing while opening gifts and playing games.

Wow, jabbur, what a touching story! It is great to hear how family traditions are changed or created.

We always have Christmas with my hubby's family a bit before Christmas so as many people (out of the 18 adults and several little ones) can make it - this year it is the 19th. My in-laws are both Polish/German. Dinner was always turkey until about 7 years ago when one of the older grandaugthers said "grandma, I get turkey three times every Christmas can we have something else like that pickle dish you make" - well, the "pickle dish" is rouladen and we have had it ever since! MIL has to make three different gravies for allergies, but she does it lovingly and we all bring the side dishes. I love this meal.
 
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