I always did my decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving since I served Thanksgiving dinner. Now the torch has been passed to SIL, so I start putting the tree up the week of Thanksgiving and finish decorating by the end of Thanksgiving weekend. That said, I am ready to take the decorations down by New Years Eve! LOL

I cook Christmas dinner, and I always plan a menu of do aheads. I do a hot crab appetizer which I assemble Christmas morning and bake off an hour before my guests arrive. I do shrimp cocktail (simple).

Dinner is Prime rib with mashed potatoes, cut up potatoes early in the day and put in pan with cold water. I then cook and mash the potatoes before my guests come, put them in the serving dish (oven safe) and put them on the stove in a water bath, heat on low. Wash the cooking pan and put it away.

This year we had roasted beets (did them 3 days ahead). After they were cooked I peeled and cut them into chunks, added alot of fig vinegar (could easily use balsamic), salt and pepper and olive oil. Carmelized onions (also done 3 days ahead). Just be sure to put a little of the vinegar off of the beets into the onions as well as a couple of chunks of beets to give them color. Put baby spinach on platter, carmelized onions next, then beets with small triangles of Stilton around the platter. I ripped off a NYC restaurant's recipe and I think I have gotten pretty darn close. I did the same beets for SIL Thanksgiving only served sliced and mache on top rather than under the beets.

We had candied sweets (real - not out of a can). DD likes mixing the yellow and orange sweets, it looks good with the mix rather than all one color.

Roasted asparagas. Set up the pan ahead, just olive oil and kosher salt.

Also, roasted plum tomatoes from recipe in Bon Appetit. I don't think the recipe was right since mine didn't look anything like the cover picture. LOL. They tasted great, but they weren't the most appealing looking part of the buffet. The tomatoes could be done 3 hours in advance.

If you do green beans they can be blanched a day before and stored in a ziploc bag wrapped in paper towel. Day of take out of fridge and saute with whatever you like, butter, lemon, almonds, sky's the limit.

There are many dishes that can be prepared up to a point and then finished at the last minute.

Happy New Year!

Thanks, labmomma, you've given me some good ideas. The dinner part of Xmas is the easiest for me. I serve mostly the same menu every year (under threat of mutiny from the family) and I've got it down fairly well. I neglected to fix the popovers I often do and the relish tray because I was so busy with all the other details. I love Christmas and I'd like to do the whole picture more efficiently, which is hard for someone who works fulltime. Do you guys do Xmas all year long? How do you make yourself more efficient with the other parts of Xmas ? I DID make my fruitcakes this year, which I only give to the 4 of my friends and relatives who love and welcome it. I also painted g'bread boys and girls with people's names, which I used as placecards, so everyone knew where to sit. My DIL complained a little, as she wanted to sit with her husband, but I had to accomodate 3 lefties, and I also had to put 3 year old DGD next to her mom and other grandma, so they could help her cut meat, etc. All in all, it made seating 12 people for dinner less a Chinese firedrill than it was last year. But I know I can't do everything, but I'd like to make the whole process more efficient and more enjoyable for me. I'd like to make some other things for Xmas, jams and pickles, and I guess I have to steel myself to do that in the summer. Does anyone have a timetable that they follow?

sudie, I wish I could come up with an easy way for Christmas dinner, but I never have. I serve the same dinner every year same as you, but besides the sweet potato & cherry pies I change other desserts. We always have way too much food. We live hundreds of miles from any family so it is usually just the 3 of us unless we have others over which we did this year. I start the day before and it takes me all day then on Christmas morning I start again and we usually eat by 2 in the afternoon.
labmomma, Your menu sounds wonderful. My family has to have turkey and ham for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
As for decorating, I decorate for Thanksgiving and I take it down Thanksgiving weekend and start my Christmas decorations. I usually try to start my Christmas shopping in Sept. and try to be finished by the 1st of Dec., but this year I was still shopping in the middle of Dec. I try to start any Christmas crafts in Oct.
I can't say I did anything "right" this year except my dinner which went great. I say every year that I am going to organize my Christmas decos better and never do. Hopefully this year I will do it. Sandi

I did wait till the last minute to mail gifts out and had to spend the extra for faster postal service but it wasn't that bad. I have already picked up a few gifts for next year from the sales going on. It doesn't bother me to stash things away for the whole year. I do that with decorations also.

Labmomma: Roasted aparagus - yummmm, that sounds fantastic. How long do you bake it for and at what temp? I do use olive oil and kosher salt and saute' it on top of the stove, sometimes with a pat of real butter for flavor but I'll tell ya, that olive oil and kosher salt is the secret to making a lot of food just wonderful tasting. I use it all the time. Try cooking some chicken breast slices or pork chops in peanut oil, it's fantastic. I don't like burnt food nor dry tasting like shoe-leather food so I do saute' a lot of my foods, turning it often for a smooth cooking all over. And I have learned here is more than one setting on the stove beside "High," turn that burner down and let the food cook, not flash cook it! Another cooking secret I learned by watching Sara Molton is, when making mashed potatoes, heat the little bit of milk you will use, in the microwave for about 10-20 seconds. As she said on the show that day - it has to do with the warm milk hitting the hot boiled potatoes that makes them more smooth and creamy. It really does work. Last Thanksgiving even my picky brother asked what I did with the mashed potatoes cause they were soooo good. Please, just try it once and you'll taste the difference using warm milk verses cold milk.

Sal

I decided to make a list on the computer of things that I thought of this year that I wish I would of done. One of the things I did was list all the Christmas events I wanted to take the kids to and then next year I will pencil them into the calender so we don't run out of time.
My list included things like, "Don't go see Santa right after Thanksgiving wait until a Friday night at 8:00 right before Christmas as no one is there".
I also made notes on things I wanted to do as far as decorating etc.
I took TONS of time packing my stuff up this year so it is well organized and will be easier to put out next year.

Sal - I use an aluminum throw away pan to do my asparagus. I just break them and wash. Dry thoroughly, olive oil, salt & pepper and 400 degree oven max 10 mins. I like mine crunchy. I do most veggies roasted. I like the taste. I don't like steamed, boiled, canned. I usually try to stay with what's available in fresh and seasonal veggies, but this time of year the pickings get a little slim. I have actually learned to roast frozen veggies during the winter. A friend gave me the tip, and I thought they would be all watery, no they come out really good. I have done brocoli spears and cauliflower so far.

Funny you mentioned the mashed potatoes. I have been asking Santa for a ricer and finally this year I got my wish. We don't use only milk in our mashed potatoes, we use light sour cream and onion powder mixed with a little milk to thin. I also heat it in the microwave and it is definitely the right way to go. I used to be a lover of Sara Moulton's live show. I don't really like the one that's running now.

The ricer makes the potatoes smooth as silk. You just put them through it and then fold in whatever you normally add. No mashing required. DD hates lumpy potatoes (I luv em), so she is very happy with the new kitchen gadget.

I also like to cut the larger red potatoes into large chunks, toss in olive oil and kosher salt and roast in cast iron skillet in the oven at 400. Toss every 15 mins or so and when they have a browned appearance I serve them. They are better than french fries!

I have finished packing up all the Christmas stuff yesterday! I don't like to wake up on New Year's Day with the tree still standing. LOL I am sure I will find a few straglers, but for the most part it is done.

I went out and invested in all plastic boxes with lids. Went through all of the Christmas stuff in the attic that I have . Discarded things that weren't being used and organized the rest for ease of decorating next year.

The thing that is left that I haven't done anything with is the garland, since I think it is seasonal rather than Christmas so I am debating about leaving it up for a few more weeks.

Great ideas, everybody. Homersgarden, I'm trying to take a leaf out of your book and make lists of what I need to do and do better next year, while I still remember. Labmomma, those plastic bins are great, aren't they? Help you to organize and keep your decorations a lot nicer than you can in cardboard boxes. One of the things I realized this year is that with the ample closets in our house, not everything needs to be moved to the basement. I put many things, especially periperal decorations, on high closet shelves where they're out of the way, but still on the first floor. I also put all the Xmas towels and decorations for our powder room in the vanity of that room. All the outdoor lights went to my husband's work room (with his blessing) where they're lots more accessible to the outside. I think Christmas is a lot more pleasant and less frustrating when you're not spinning your wheels.

Sudie,

I've been a lurker for awhile, and have just now "joined". I hope you don't mind my contribution!

1 - I shop for Christmas all year round (birthdays, too). I'm one of those oh-I-think-______-will-like-this type people. Everyone I know goes out and buys whatever they want when they want it, so there's really no point in me trying to get EXACTLY what I hear the person say they would like. I have no kids, so hubby and I don't have to worry about what the kids want from Santa. And - I have Christmas and/or birthday bought no later than September.

2 - When I buy something, I wrap it very soon after bringing it home. I have an empty closet in my office that houses all wrapping paper and bought gifts. So everything goes in there quite nicely!

3 - I have Christmas cards written and addressed no later than Oct 31. No one I know would up and decide to move, then get moved before Christmas, so change of address is not a problem. The week after Thanksgiving, dig the cards out and mail them.

4 - I am the boss at work, so I always close the day after Thanksgiving. That's when Christmas goes up. It WILL be finished before the weekend is over. I also close the day after Christmas. That's when it comes down. It WILL be down before the end of the day. Funny how Christmas doesn't take near as long to take down as it does to put it up!

5 - I'm with Labmomma (I'm a Pugmomma, BTW). Plastic bins are the best thing since peanut butter! Each bin(s) has it's own room, so I can bring everything down and put it back up without wondering where this or that is. And, if I decide I don't want a tree in our bedroom this year, I don't take that bin(s) down out of the attic.

6 - Everything I cook for Christmas must have nothing but fairly not perishable items. I have my list made and all ingredients bought at least 3 weeks before Christmas, so I escape the run-out-at-the-last-minute problems.

7 - Everyone else has great ideas about the meal. I'll try some of those next year!

All of this helps to give my family a less-stress (working on stress free) holiday and puts us in a better Christmas spirit because we're not running around like crazy folks with last minute things.

mandy a/k/a pugmomma - I like the way you think! I think one of my resolutions will be getting a bit more organized. DH swears I have ADD as it is, wait till he sees me in 5th gear! I am just one of those people who can't sit still or when I am sitting still I am thinking of the things I could be doing if I wasn't sitting around. LOL - but kind of sick in a way????

I like the shopping all year, every year I swear I am going to do it, but it never happens. Maybe this year;-).

When you do your after-Christmas clean-up, pull out a 2007 calendar, flip to December and write yourself a note, like where you put the extension cord for the tree, that you had left-over gift tags, anything you wouldn't remember. I found a bunch of 37 cent Christmas stamps I tucked away after Christmas 2005. I'll buy some ones or twos and use them up. Do you think stamps will go up again before december '07?

Labmomma,

LOL! I understand completely! My DH swears I have OCD. I cannot sit and rest until each and every thing is in place and done, whether it be Christmas or just regular chores. It used to bother him and he would fuss. When I *cough* nicely explained to him that most of my running around was picking up after him, he quieted down. It didn't bother him enough to start picking up after himself however!

Jannie,

The calendar thing is a great idea! I didn't think of that one, but I can certainly see where it would be helpful. I have a designated place for all extension cords, but I could use it for a thousand other things. I don't know about the stamps going up, sorry I can't help there.

Mandy

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