Unique Christmas meals?

[Kathy]

Our family enjoys turkey for thanksgiving but for Christmas we change our menus.

Christmas Eve menu tradition was started by my mother in law where we used to spend every Christmas eve.

Ham
Fetticini
Grilled pineapple
green salad
rolls

And for christmas day we usually have lasagne, salad and garlic bread.

How about you? Do you have a unique menu tradition for Christmas?

[thediamondlady]

Dad always did the whole layout -- we had turkey and ham and mashed potatoes, and potato salad and pickles and deviled eggs and cranberry sauce and

oh wait -- the walk down memory lane -- I can still see the table -- it had everything -- and it stayed out all day and we ate and we watch tv or played games and ate some more.

[ladyboss24]

When I grew up, we always had an exact replica of Thanksgiving at Christmas -- no complaints from us! It's a great meal.

We've done some different things in more recent memory. One memorable Christmas was just munchies all day long -- cheese balls, chips, crackers, meatballs, veggies and dip -- and my sister made an out-of-this-world pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. Yum!

This year we're having turkey, and then I'll make a small ham as well.

[stormchic]

Lisa,
How funny we have the same name, and we had the same christmas food, and activities. LOL Cool! As I was reading your post I went back to when I was growing up "good memories" I have the same tradition now with my daughter and hubby. My parents went back home after my surgery and they call me and I hear Christmas music and my Dad was decorating the house outside and inside. My Mom was making her delicious fudge!! Oh, i know I'm rambling but I miss them so much. Have a Merry Christmas and make great memories this season.

[jcme]

The main items we used to do ham, sweet potatoes, lasagna, meatballs and sausgage (our lasagna is all cheese). Now that there are fewer people, we won't do the ham or sweet potatoes.

My grandmother would do a big spread of Christmas Eve with mostly fish items (clam chowder, some cold cod dish, fried smelts and Alio e Olio (pasta with anchovies and garlic). The remaining family doesn't like fish as much as so the pasta dish is the only thing we make now for Christmas eve.

[YellowRoseTex]

We used to do ham, sweet potatoes, green beans and a big tray of lasagne. But now I just make two huge trays of lasagne, I make some garlic bread and a nice salad with something yummy for dessert.

MIL and I make the sauce from scratch on xmas eve than spend xmas morning after gifts slicing cheese and putting everything together. We have alot of fun. One of our traditions is slapping dh's hand as he starts stealing all the mozerella cheese. :D

Xmas eve will be italian sausage, boiled shrimp, raw beef and onions on rye bread (family tradition), cheese and crackers, veggies and dip and whatever else snacky thing I can think of. We than use the left over sausage for the lasagne.

Oh, I also have to make 2 different kinds of lasagne and homemade sauce due to my food allergies. But it is worth the extra effort. And no one else will eat mine so all the more for me!

[uLearnAsUgo]

We usually have turkey and a ham for Christmas, depending on how many people we have. Last year I was released from the hospital on Christmas eve, at 9pm. Since I wasn't prepared to cook we went to my aunt's home. She served a wonderful prime rib roast. It was so good, I may decide to go there again! But right now I'm in the mood for grilled pineapple, fettucini, sweet potatoes, meetballs, sausage, and deviled eggs! I will never lose weight as long as I read these posts!!
:goodscale ~~~~~~~~ :goodscale ~~~~~~~~:goodscale ~~~~~~~~:goodscale

[stormchic]

I am having christmas at my house this year. 22 of us! My brother who is an awesome chef has offered to come over and help me cook. Since i'm only 2 weeks post-op from my laparotomy for removal of adhesions. He cooks sooooo gooood. I love to cook to xmas eve we will have lasagna and yummy desserts. As I posted earlier we will do the traditional xmas spread for xmas day. Today my brother and I made a list and i can't wait!!!!!!!!!!! Enjoy the holidays.

[afsgtyfe]

My hubby and I are originally from the south. (Mississippi and Alabama respectively...as far south as you can go without stepping in the ocean. *grin*)
Our traditional Christmas eve meal is seafood gumbo or shrimp creole.
Christmas day we toss it up every few years, but we are not traditionalists at all...we don't like the turkey or ham because we eat those foods throughout the year. We had planned to have a standing rib roast (Prime rib) for our Holiday dinner this year, but since my oven died on monday, that is not possible any longer since the repairman couldn't get the part in and is off from today until next Thursday. :-(
We've decided to grill steaks and roast potatos and veggies on the BBQ as our alternative. I will likely do the standing rib roast for New Years day. :-)

Paula

[smalltowngal]

My husbands family does a Mexican dinner every year...tamales, enchiladas, quesadillas, chips and salsa. It is very different from the traditional turkey and dressing that I am used to, but it is a nice change.

[highlandsunsets]

Christmas day is something fresh baked in the morning (this year it will be monkey bread) then a simple pan of lasagna for a late lunch.

Christmas eve is the strange one for me. I grew up Italian so we always had a seven fish dinner. Now that my relatives are all deceased I go to my husbands family home for their tradition which is Slovak. They have something called (and please forgive the spelling here........I am totally sounding it out) Didavochki. It is little pieces of dough that are fried with cabbage. We also have mushroom soup, periogies, and the must have is a piece of garlic dipped in honey for good luck. Very differant from what I grew up with but nice to have a tradition non the less.

[clogaholic]

My DH, DD and I will often have prime rib ( rare ) for Christmas, baked potatoes, salad & several snacks and desserts. We eat breakfast, have an early evening meal & kinda snack all day :D

[Carmen]

I don't celebrate Christmas myself, but I am not adverse to accepting invitations to join those that do. ;)

On December 25th, I'm bringing a homemade salmon ball and assorted crackers, as part of the pre-meal "appetizer spread," to my cousin's house which is about an hour's drive from my house. Other guests typically bring goodies like deviled eggs, herring, shrimp, etc. Despite my resolve to the contrary, on this holiday I always cave in and indulge in a couple of premium tequila shots with my uncle and cousins, as well as a few frothy and tasty Margaritas. The crowd later enjoys a Mexican Buffet meal that includes assemble-your-own burritos with a selection of fillings including spicy shredded pork, black beans, cheeses, peppers, salsa, onions, guacamole, etc. For dessert, my sister-in-law furnishes her homemade pecan and pumpkin pies that are the best ever.

My mouth is watering at the thought. I have to stop reading these food threads because I get too hungry! :rolleyes:

[afsgtyfe]

Turns out, I get to cook our rib roast tomorrow after all. :-)
Talking to a neighbor yesterday she asked what our plans are, and when I told her what was going on, she invited us to come to share their meal, and to cook my rib roast in her oven. ***AWWWW***
It's working out great, really...our daughters (although seperated by 3 years) play really well together, and I really wasn't really crazy about the idea of standing outside with the BBQ in the snow.
So, our meal tomorrow will be Rib roast, cornish game hens (my neighbor doesn't eat red meat), roasted red potatoes, mixed green salad, roasted asparagus, and she is also making a bouche (sp?) de noel for dessert.

[YellowRoseTex]

Paula,
Your meal sounds yummy! Glad it all worked out for you. My mom used to make cornish game hens for the holidays. :yum:

Hope all my friends here enjoy their holiday meals. I have enjoyed reading what everyone is having. Everything sounds scrumptious! Wish I could stop by and have a taste of everything! :D :xmastree:

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! :santa:

[crunchies0313]

Christmas Eve was never a "special" dinner growing up. But Christmas day my whole family got together and for a while we did turkey and ham with all the sides, but after a few years everyone was tired of eating it for Thanksgiving and then again for Christmas. Now on Christmas day we do Mexican food. We have tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, nachos, you name it we have it!

[dally099]

we did a mexican meal this year, i found all the traditional meals that were eaten in mexico before the turkey invasion! we had some interesting stuff that i wont eat again, and some stuff that we will have again. the salsa's were great! i had 4 xmas dinners so i was turkeyed out by the time the big day roled around.