Do you go all out for Christmas dinner?

Marie5656

Marie5656

SF VIP
Location
Batavia, NY
We know that Thanksgiving is all about the turkey. Do you do anything special for Christmas? When my family still gathered, we all met at my cousin's place for an open house. They pretty much just did a buffet spread. They started the tradition as they did not have children, so it was easy for them to do all the planning and prep. I miss those.

The past few years, Rick and I just spent the day at home. Sometimes I would make a nice roast, or something. Last year, we broke that tradition and went out for Chinese. This year I bought a small roast, and I am going to do it un the crock pot either Tuesday or Wednesday.
 

I go wayyyyy out on Thanksgiving. My niece is having Christmas dinner at her house but being that my hubby is scheduled to work Christmas, I decidedto cook a little something at home and spend time with him before he go in to work... late evening. My son and daughter will be coming over. I will have turkey breast, stuffing, greens, etc.. and I decided to make lasagna. What did I sign up for..lol. I was so not in the mood but looking forward to it. I plan on cooking my lasagna, collards, potato salad Tuesday night. Chinese sounds GREAT Marie!!! May do that one year.
 
I hosted all the holidays when the kids were growing up and went all out except for Christmas, on this day I wanted to spend the morning around the tree with my kids and not in the kitchen preparing dinner for guests we would have later on in the day.
I prepared well in advance and had a buffet. Many things I plated the day before and covered with plastic wrap. The few things that were to be served hot were also made ahead and put in oven safe bowls.

I popped them all in the oven under very low heat and when it all was heated everyone helped bring the items to the table.
A lot of work ahead of time but well worth it.
 

I go all out in a very small way!

This year I will fix a ham steak, kielbasa, maple glazed sweet potato, green beans and cabbage salad with apple crisp and ice cream for dessert.

Even the scaled-down version sounds like a lot but the leftover kielbasa will spend a few days in the freezer and reappear on New Year's Eve and a chunk of the ham will make an appearance in the beans on New Year's Day.

I have to admit that I do feel foolish buying one sweet potato but even one sweet potato lasts for four meals these days!
 
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No, We keep it pretty simple. Christmas is no big deal here at all. Travelling the world was the big deal when I was a bit younger. Still want to go. Can't understand all this fuss about Christmas. I think it is a herding thing; sort of like the buffalo or a flock of geese.
 
Not anymore as 2 brothers have dementia, sister doesn't bother going out anymore and 1 brother is taking care of 1 brother that has dementia. My hubby has actually asked if we could go out to eat and I said NO. We do celebrate with my daughter and family but that will be on the 26th this year as she is too busy with her husband's family.
 
I stopped making a huge Christmas dinner a long time ago. I realized I wanted to spend that time with my kids, not slaving away in the kitchen and missing out on their delight as they played with their new toys.

Since the kids have all grown and I've moved so many times, for years now we've had the tradition of gathering at Paige's house because it's the biggest and also because she has the youngest kids and it's easier for her to stay put than drag them out.

She has her Christmas with her family way early Christmas morning. Then the rest of the extended family head over to her place around 9.00. I make a huge Christmas breakfast for everyone...country ham, sausage, country gravy and red eye gravy, biscuits, eggs, grits, eggnog, spiced tea, OJ, coffee, the works..and everyone fills their bellies before gathering around the tree and opening all the gifts that everyone's brought.

Once that's done we sort of graze on the leftovers then head out to a movie. This year we're all going to see the latest StarWars movie. My son got the tickets two weeks ago because it's very popular and sold out very quickly.
 
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Dave has taken over the cooking, thankfully, and he'll be making a roast, mashed potatoes, rolls, asparagus. Daughter will bring a salad. Christmas cookies I made with the grands today for dessert. On Christmas Eve we always have halupki (cabbage rolls). That rather odd tradition dates back to before we had our daughter and I asked DH what he wanted for Christmas Eve dinner. He told me stuffed cabbage, and so a tradition was born. We've added a couple of things since -- notably, serving Rib Shack Red wine. My daughter, who drinks alcohol only rarely, discovered she like Rib Shack Red a few years ago, so we serve it on Christmas Eve.
 
I will have Greek Moussaka (my favorite dish, will make it tomorrow), green salad with green and black and klamata olives and homemade Italian dressing, a piece of store-bought cheesecake, a piece of homemade apple pie with a side of ice cream, and a glass of wine. The rest will go in the freezer in portions for other times. I'm not apologizing for the three desserts, I deserve them. 🤤
 

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