Fun Christmas Dinner Ideas?

Prime rib, garlic mashed potatoes, 7 layer salad and all sorts of baked goods! That's what I'm serving :)

We do Christmas eve and have a variety of homemade soups. Each one of us brings a different soup to share. Then we have breads and other amenities to go with the soup. It's a simple and fun way to enjoy the holiday without so much time spent in the kitchen.

What about fondue? It is labor intensive, but so much fun! Oh, and it does take a long time to get through the meal. This could be a huge positive or negative, depending on your family. But, it is so much fun. We usually do 3 courses (cheese, meat, dessert), and you can dip all sorts of things in the cheese/dessert fondues, including vegitables and fruit. I have a great fondue cookbook (Fondue Bible), with great recipes and pictures.

we always have italian night for Christmas eve! Cuz our family loves it!
a nice ante pasta salad....garlic cheese bread, 2 or 3 kinds of pasta with homemade sauce. its super easy! and hot fudge cream puffs for dessert!

My husbands family always did fondue and I loved it - I can't wait to do it when our kids are older. They had two pots for oil, and two for cheese, and then would make some side dishes, cheese and cracker tray, and a dessert. It was a great way to make the meal and togetherness around the table last a little bit longer. It also encouraged trying new things, they had lots of different meats and veggies, every year they would have one thing totally out there (alligator meat was the one that stands out in my mind the most). There were always at least 20-30 ppl there. I am so looking forward to being able to re-start that tradition when our kids are older!

I took one look at the meal plan in the new Martha Stewart magazine and told my husband I would make it! It is a mustard spiced roast with wellington mushroom cups, green beans with dried cranberries and sliced baked potatoes? There is also a recipe for a pumpkin spice cheesecake that I think I am going to do! You should check it out.

Our family usually does a large salmon on Christmas Eve, and my dad's side of the family always serves prime rib for Christmas dinner. I'm all for turkey, though. :)

** Make your own taco bar
**Make your own Boboli pizza(lots of toppings so people can have what they want)
** Huge pot of seafood gumbo or chili
** Various appetizers, fruit plates, cheese plates, etc. just set out most of the day so people can snack as they desire
** Barbeque, hot dogs, hamburgers

I'm not a big turkey fan (just love that stuffing), so I'm down for anything. [Especially now that my mom just gets Xmas dinner from Raley's ::sigh::]

My friends are probably making Prime Rib for Xmas Eve dinner, and their family traditionally has tacos for Xmas dinner. If I could find a way to go to their house for Xmas dinner, I would... (but if I don't go to my moms, I'll never hear the end of it...AND she won't talk to me for 4 months... LOL)

As someone else intimated, make sure you get your family to sign off on "no turkey"...

What about a honey baked ham or a big roast of beef? You could do roast beef and scalloped potatoes and veggies like brussel sprouts or baked squash. mmmm!

Christmas Day dinner is a repeat of Thanksgiving for us...but I'm thinking we may change it up this year.

Christmas Eve is ALWAYS taco's. It's the only night of the year that I eat taco's and not burrito's or a taco salad. It was that way since I was little. We do that because it's quick and still leaves time to go to Christmas Eve services :).

my SIL does a "Pizza & Pink Floyd" Christmas with her kids & gkids. :)

We do a traditional dinner, rounded out with up-to-date sides & appetizers. There's always something new to try.....

& if my sis isn't here, then we do a smoked meat....turkey or pork roast. It's a traditional baked turkey otherwise.

we usually do prime rib but my husband's family does the turkey dinner for christmas dinner. for christmas eve we do HUGE amounts of apps. fun for the kids, and us!

Christmas Eve is just my husband, our kids & I at home so we order a huge ton of Chinese take-out. Christmas Day we go to my mom's & most years she does a ham, but not everyone loves that. This year we're doing a crown rib roast.

We have baked glazed ham, turkey and seafood. It's lovely to have lobster! We also have salads, fruit and various vegetable dishes. Desserts include boost trifle, Christmas pudding, caramel tart and candies.

I'm doing Prime Rib. I thought about Christmas goose. Everyone will Love whatever you do though.

You could always do a ham. But I know if it was MY family, I'd be raked over the coals for *not* doing a turkey!!

Last year we had our first annual taco eating contest, complete with a "major award," which was a homemade cardboard trophy covered in aluminum foil with the words "Major Award" written on it in marker. My BIL won last year and took the award home, where it's been prominently displayed on his mantel all year. He'll bring it back this year for the contest again. Everyone is looking forward to it--it made for some great laughs!

we have cocktails and finger foods. we play pictionary on a giant white board and have old Christmas movies playing on the tv.