I do not remember a specific Christmas meal growing up. Christmas Eve was a much bigger deal. We went to Mass and then home to make a feast of finger foods. My sister carries that tradition on every year. I always contribute what is asked of me. Usually, olive bread, pizza meatballs, various dips and whatever else. Its "fun food." I expect to hear from here soon with her demands for this year.

I am working Christmas night this year, and have made no plans food wise. I think my SO will be happy with a repeat of Thanksgiving. That will be fine I guess, at least its easy.

We had a prime rib for TG (a week early) for the family, then hubby and I stuffed a turkey breast with cran/apple so we could have some leftovers. We would LOVE to have a crab feed for xmas, but those darned whales keep getting caught in the crab fishing lines, so no crab season yet again! We want to keep those whales alive, so might buy crab from up north $$$$$$. Not sure.

We’ve lived here in Northern New Mexico since we married almost 43 years ago. Thankfully, we love our New Mexican/Mexican food. So, our Christmas Eve tradition is always a celebratory dinner of Tamales with my homemade red chile sauce, Caesar salad, green Chile Rollups, and Biscochitos (special, delicious NM/Mex cookies. For Christmas Dinner, though, we have Filet Mignon, wild rice pilaf, roasted asparagus, wine, and our longtime favorite holiday dessert, Winter-Spiced Molten Lava Cakes topped with vanilla-ginger ice cream ( recipe from Bon Appetit magazine) with coffee.

The traditional meal for our family was the same for Thanksgiving and Christmas and was turkey-centric. I still tend to make turkey for Christmas, mostly because I like roast turkey breast and it's hard to come by during most of the year. I used to be able to find fresh turkey breasts year-round, but not any longer.

We eat and eat and eat for days because four of us have birthdays between Dec 23 (me) and Dec 29—a daughter, a granddaughter, and a son-in-law. It’s ridiculous, but what can you do? We eat, that’s what we do!

As of Oct 17 when number 11 grandchild was born there are 25 of us, and we all celebrate every event together, often including my kids in-laws, eating! The only thing I know for sure is Christmas Day will be beef tenderloin. We will probably also have lasagne, aglio e olio with shrimp and scallops, a ham, plus all the trimmings, potatoes, salads, pancakes, French toast, bacon, dozens of eggs, desserts and cookies. We are a family that loves to cook, and EAT!!!

@Sheeshie.....wow! That is amazing!

Sheeshie, Congrats on the new baby!

So many wonderful memories of cooking with my mother. One Fall day, after the weather turned cooler, my mother would buy real, fresh filo dough (ingredients: "Flour, water, and skill"). When I was old enough to really help, not just putting the pastries in the pan, it would be four pounds, plus all the filling ingredients. Sometimes, iwe'd make a meat filling, or spinach, but mostly it was the cheese (with a potato carrier). We'd make dozens and dozens of bourekes, Armenian Jewish style. Basically,filled filo flag folded pastries soaked in sesame oil. So good! So beloved, even by the ones who couldn't be bothered to learn the name and called them "those cheese things". Depending on who was taller when, one of us would stand on the kitchen side of the pastry board, and the other leaned through the pass-through, and oil-brush, fill and fold the strips of filo quickly so they wouldn't dry out, then roll in more sesame oil and bake. These were frozen on toaster oven sized foil trays. They heat up beautifully in any sized oven.

It's a bit of a joke, really, but Hanukkah is a minor festival, celebrating a military victory, and the miracle that one day's worth of consecrated oil lasted for the eight days it took to get more. Therefore, it's traditional to eat fried or oily food, and what's better than bourekes?

These were often taken to the Christmas cousin, as well as other family occasions, on Christmas Eve. I've made them with the best of the currently available filo, but it's thicker than the real stuff. It's good, but not as good. I haven't been told what to bring by the current Christmas cousin. For Hanukkah, we're having the caterer, who is providing several appetizers with fried bits, as well as fried chicken tenders, so I'm off the hook there.

" I used to be able to find fresh turkey breasts year-round, but not any longer"

Trader Joes carries turkey breasts most of the year, see if one of the ones near you carries them or will order them for you if you don't find them.

My wife likes to get breasts there every few weeks, to have for sandwiches. Eating the real thing is of course more tasty than sliced processed turkey that's usually the default that's available for sandwiches.

One of my sister's birthdays is on Christmas. We have the big birthday brunch bash on Christmas morning. I'm thinking crab cakes or crab quiche. Copycat cinnabons or stuffed French toast. I always have sausage gravy for my sister's son. I'm dying for my daughter's boyfriend's hard scrambled eggs. Of course there'll be more. Maybe we'll make a hot chicken and waffles kind of thing? Juices and fruits and all kinds of things! Christmas dinner? Ina Garten's roulade with sides. That's always my favorite.

Elmer, I buy Empire turkey half breasts from TJ’s year round. Definitely nice for sandwiches. Also tasty when smeared with Ina Garten’s rub from her Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast several hours before roasting.

Regarding Christmas, Christmas Eve for us is always prime rib. Christmas Day is most often a baked pasta dish.

Christmas for us means roast turkey with roast potatoes, roast pumpkin, peas, stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy… of course followed by Christmas pudding with custard. We do this old English tradition even though our weather might be hot. We always have fingers crossed for a cool day.

This year because we now have grandchildren our sons have said let’s give Nan and Pa a break and we are invited to two Christmas lunches at their individual homes, one on the Thursday and the other one on the Tuesday before - the 23rd. The funny thing is though, that both have requested I cook and bring along the usual turkey breast I have roasted all these years past. They will do all the rest including a ham at one and lots of large shrimp at the other. I am happy to do this and as they both live nearby, it really is no bother to transport the hot Turkey breast.

Our Christmas dinner is very similar to Floral's, except this year I'm planning to serve red cabbage rather than sprouts. I'll cook a piece of gammon in the pressure cooker the day before to save time. We no longer make Christmas pud or mincemeat from 'scratch' although they are much nicer than shop bought. A piece of stilton cheese rounds off the meal. We don't bother with Christmas cake as we are too full to eat another meal or snack only a few hours later.

Floral, we inherited a similar set of serving dishes from an old friend. I think they are 'Royal Albert'(?) and only see the light of day on High Days and Holidays!

We always do surf and turf. Great steaks, crab legs or lobster tails, that and a great salad, dinner rolls, twice baked potatoes. I never plan on special dessert as we have a TON of cookies/candies to consume. The Hispanic community here if my students are any indication, have a huge sea food feast on Christmas. When we lived in NM we lived among American Indian tribes but Hispanic/Chicano as they preferred back in that day, given my time in Calif., were not in my awareness. Perhaps it's about where in NM? I would totally love some fry bread for Christmas!!

I do red cabbage if we have goose. But always sprouts too. I no longer make mincemeat but I make mince pies well in advance and freeze them. Also PC the gammon and do the cloves thing the day before. I do very little on the day itself except prep veg, stick the bird in the oven and do the gravy in the roasting oan. Everything else is prepared before hand. It's not really difficult as it's just a normal roast dinner writ large.

The china is Royal Worcester 'Howard'. We've bought and received it over the years. We have a complete set including coffee cups etc. It's not DW safe because of the gold band so it only comes out on high days and holidays. I recently saw some in an auction advertised as Thatcher's chosen china. I was appalled. But too expensive to throw out.

We're now just the 2 of us at Christmas. We usually splurge on a small prime rib roast. I make a horseradish sauce to serve with it, scalloped potatos,and green beans amandine. Desserts aren't too important anymore since DH was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and I don't like to bake. We always make a French-Canadian tourtière (meat pie) for New Years Eve - his mother's recipe with pork, potatoes and spices. Generally served with a nice winter salad.

We don't have Thanksgiving here and even when it's hot I love to have turkey. Christmas Eve is the extended family dinner and we all bring something. I do a big ham, smoked by our local prize-winning butcher (very expensive but worth it IMO), studded with cloves and roasted in the barbecue before being packed in a hot box and taken down to my sister in law's. (DD texted that DGS, who was just old enough to eat some of last year's leftover ham when they were staying over and really, really liked it, asked "Grandma ham?" when she was telling him about coming over for Christmas :-) )

I also make the desserts. This year I will be making cannoli filled with citrus flavored custard and one end dipped in dark chocolate and rolled in pistachios, the lemon curd filled shortbread tartlets posted on the Thanksgiving thread (perfect for MIL who will only eat one tiny tartlet and loves lemon) and probably a coffee cheesecake, which is popular in the family. And maybe some brownies, a favourite of my nephew's.

Christmas Day I will be roasting a turkey buffe (both breasts and wings joined together, stuffed with both a bread stuffing and a sausagemeat stuffing. The recipe is my MIL's and has white raisins among other ingredients but I swap them for craisins. I'll make hasselback potatoes, bacon rolls, probably roasted carrots, and asparagus. And lots of gravy. There's never enough gravy at the family thing, and it's more a thin jus than actual gravy. Dessert will be leftovers from the day before, plus my MIL's trifle. At 96 she's not up to doing a lot of cooking, but she likes to contribute and makes a really good trifle. I love trifle but not many other family members do, so I get some leftovers :-)

It's just for DH and me, but we may be joined by friends, and then DD and her husband and DGS will come to stay for a few days so we'll feast on the leftovers.

amylou's post reminded me of my childhood tradition that i had not thought about in a very long time. the week before Christmas, my dad would make a huge day-long production out of making italian sausage from scratch using my grandfather's recipe as well as his hand-crank meat grinder he inherited. i can still picture him standing over the kitchen sink, stuffing pork casings. what a glorious memory!

Christmas eve, mom dressed all 4 of us in our sunday best and we headed off to midnight mass. after mass, we headed home and it was mom's turn in the kitchen. she cooked sausage, scrambled eggs, made toast, freshly squeezed o.j. and we sat down to a feast.

of course, we kids were just sure that if we stayed up all night, we'd surely get a glimpse of santa but with full tummies at 2 a.m., sleep came easily.

thanks for the memories, amy!

We have half a "wild caught" salmon in the freezer. A little asparagus, mashed potatoes & butter.....YUM!!!!

My family gets together on Christmas Eve for dinner and exchanging gifts. Over the years this has morphed from dinner, midnight mass and gifts to dinner, gifts and midnight mass to now dinner and gifts. Our number has grown to 29, so somewhere along the way we switched dinner to Italian, which can easily be made ahead of time. My parents would be pleased that we all still get together.

Our grocer usually has a seafood sale around Christmas/New Years so we have been having crab legs on Christmas eve and New Year's day the last few years. Usually Snow Crab but I might have to splurge on King Crab this year if I can pry my wallet open far enough.

Ah, ninapearl, that’s exactly how my dad did it, hand crank and all, soaking and stretching the casings in the sink. My oldest kids happily remember their job pricking the sausages with the “special“ safety pin to prevent spurting while the sausages fried, probably the same special pin I used growing up! My brother now has the crank and still uses it to make Dad’s recipe a couple times a year.

Standing rib roast, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, Cheddar creamed carrots, Brussels sprouts. My daughter makes a cranberry rum cake.

happily remember their job pricking the sausages with the “special“ safety pin to prevent spurting while the sausages fried

yes yes yes, i forgot about that part!

my brother-in-law now has the grinder and the recipe and makes it every couple of years. i wish i didn't live 600 miles from them, i can almost taste the goodness!

Cream of artichoke soup, Rib roast with an herb and crushed pepper corn coating, roast red potatoes finished in chopped bacon, asparagus with hollandaise sauce, a salad plate of fan cut avocados with fan cut strawberries and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. maybe some sprouts. Butter rolls which are laminated roll dough shaped into knots, no desert because breakfast is brioche and strawberry conserve champagne, and thick sliced bacon for the cats. the brioche is dipped in an orange sauce and coated with almond paste and rebaked.

patriciae

Thanks, @Elmer J Fudd and @chloebud. I'll remember to look at TJ's when I'm craving fresh roasted turkey in the spring and summer.

Do keep in mind that Empire brand is kosher and their turkeys (as well as any other animals) are heavily salted to remove the blood and complete the ritual preparation. "Kosher salt" isn't about eating it--all pure salt is kosher to eat--it's the salt you push into the meat to kasher it. The excess salt will have been rinsed off, but some does remain in the meat. This also usually makes the flesh softer. These birds aren't what you want to brine. :)

Patriciae, I’d like to join you!

Got a link for that cream of artichoke soup?

Julia Childs. You boil your artichokes-two or three should do, cook and then pull the leaves and scrape them into a bowl . As she said tedious but worth it. Saute about a cup of chopped leeks in butter till soft. scrape your scrapings and leeks through a sieve to get the pulp. Sing Christmas carols as you do this. Thin with chicken broth. I make fresh, nice and rich. I reserve the bases of the artichokes for decorative chunks but you could use them to add to your mush. Put it all in a pot and dump in some cream, cup? Oh salt and pepper to taste. Heat. That is it. I dont measure sorry. It has always worked. It is luscious and rich and green. You might notice my dinner has a color theme. Red and green. You can do most of this in advance. I might do the artichokes in the summer and finish with the broth and cream at Christmas.

patriciae

Fun, I picked up a turkey breast at TJ’s today. This one’s 3.34 pounds ($4.99/lb.) and will be mostly used for sandwiches. We came home from DD’s Thanksgiving gathering with some turkey but never enough for DH.

I get a ham from TJ's each Christmas. Best ham ever. I dont know what makes it so good, except no nitrates, less salt. I have tried other brands with those specifications, and it is just not as good. Only 7 of us. Waldorf salad, corn casserole, something green, and home baked rolls. Pecan pie and cherry pie from my trees.

OMG!! I want a pecan pie tree and a cherry pie tree!!!

We usually prepare three pans of lasagna – freeze one for a rainy day and cook two. It’s usually too much food but I can pick on the leftover lasagna right out of the frig for days which I used to do as a child (I’d sneak). We will do an antipasto and hopefully we can find a decent grain pie, Italian cheesecake and other Italian pastries. We don’t bake and I miss all my family ‘old-timers’ who could make Zeppole, Struffoli and Nacatole. And yes, if we can fit it in, A Christmas Story (You'll shoot your eye out!).

This has brought back memories - my dad's been gone a long while now, but we always had smoked turkey for both Christmas and New Year's. He would make them on the grill and it was a day long process - they were always very juicy and tender and I seem to recall the only seasoning he used was Lowry's seasoned salt. My mom grew up going to midnight mass on Christmas Eve too. Her family's Lithuanian, so pickled herring along with a big bowl of sauteed mushrooms with butter and onions were always on the table for the holiday meal - along with traditional holy wafer that was passed around the table for everyone to break off a piece. And we had the basic sides: stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, rolls, peas, cranberries and gravy.

For a long time now, I've been making an easy lasagna for Christmas Eve and then more turkey with the fixin's for Christmas Day.

Olychick Its the funniest thing how the cherry trees grow those pies, all pitted, sugared and crust crimped! I cant' grow pecan trees in KS, so I have to make that pie myself.

Our Christmas Day tradition is cracked crab. I go to the local Asian live seafood place and get one big crab per person plus a few extra. Usually works out to a dozen. I used to boil them but now I steam them, a bit more flavorful and you’re not wrestling with a giant crab pot full of boiling water. SWMBO is one of those people who meticulously cracks and extracts her entire crab into a neat pile before eating, which means she can’t leave the table for even a second or people steal her work. We have learned to locate and remove the star-shaped crab heart which is quite the delicacy. The cats and ratties enjoy Christmas Day!

For anyone serving prime rib or beef tenderloin, Ina G’s Spinach Gratin is a great side. It’s also good with pork, turkey or ham.

My kids and i started a Christmas dinner tradition of Chinese food a la A Christmas Story sometime in the late 80's which continues to this day. Easy, little effort and clean up, lots of leftovers, fun.