Ugh...what Should I Make for Christmas Dinner?

Make it simple and less work.
Festive taco bar with several dips to use with chips
Chili or soups with crackers, relishes, bread bowls.
Lasagna, layered salad and bread, simple desserts, cookies, brownies, Tiramasu

I was going to say lasagna too - you can even make it the day before. I will be :)

We're making enchiladas, in honor of our parents who we lost this year. We couldn't get into the spirit of a turkey or ham and the usual side dishes as they held too many memories. So we decided if we were going to be sad to go with the enchiladas, our Mom made the best ones on earth, and we all learned to make them. We're having beans, rice and corn as well, and have tamales ordered for Christmas breakfast, Dad's favorite.

Explore your options; lasagna, salad and garlic toast, a crockpot meal, a prepared meal you just reheat, a spiral ham you pick up cooked and build a buffet around...one year when it was going to be impossible for everyone to be together for the day we all met at a Chinese buffet for lunch, and took a cake with us, the manager said it was fine :)

How many people and sit-down or not?

I'm making lasagna, bread and salad for xmas eve, and a turkey breast in the crockpot with butternut squash soup for xmas day.

GEt a spiral ham. Who cares if you just made it-its easy! Then do some kind of cheesy, au grautin potato and something green like beans or brussel sprouts. Make a salad with mixed greens, dried cranberries, blue cheese, red onions, pears or apples with an orange or rasp vinagerette.

Are the same people coming who came to every dinner party? I don't think people mind some repeats - they are coming for the festivities and the socializing too.

Is this a sit-down dinner with one entree? Or a buffet? For sit-down, I would either repeat the turkey or ham (assuming everyone eats ham), and vary the sides a lot, or go with a large lasagna (you could do 2, a meat and a veggie). You could also do a nice Asian chicken with chicken tenders, a sauce of orange marmalade & soy sauce, with scallions and sesame seeds and mandarin oranges. I have the recipe and it's super easy, plus you can do it all ahead, and the sauce keeps the chicken moist. For a buffet, I just use any chicken breasts and cut them into smaller pieces ("nugget" size). It keeps well in a chafing dish too. There are also a zillion ways to cook chicken, and I often do a baked chicken nugget dish for the kids - a healthy nugget with whole wheat bread crumbs/wheat germ (and a little grated Parm is good too), quick fry in olive oil to crisp up the crust and then finish in the oven.

A taco bar and a salad bar are good for buffets - a lot of chopping and small dishes but you can do most of it ahead of time. Chicken tenders with dipping sauces works well too - honey mustard, BBQ, sesame/soy, and others. Works for kids who don't like sauce and works for adults too.

We are having ham at home on Chistmas Eve, a chicken at home on Christmas day and Prime Rib at my brothers on Boxing Day. I will cook a turkey at home on New Years Eve.

We always have roast beef, twice baked potatoes, carrots, salad and home made rolls.

Beef tenderloin is super easy.. Then slice it serve with rolls, horseradish sauce.

Crispy salad, maybe loaded mashed potatoes and some asparagus..

Do you have any Christmas food traditions? Anything people love in particular? Go with that, if the grocery hasn't run out of it.

Just because you fixed something for a party doesn't mean you can't fix it again. Repeat the previous success, if it was a success, or tackle the same main course with a different recipe. You might just start another family tradition - or become renowned for your five-star Christmas pizza.

At our house, we've always tended to have turkey at Christmas. But we're going a different route this year: cheeseball appetizers, honey-baked spiral ham in a crock pot (two of them), roasted potatoes, a green bean casserole (fancier than the soup-can recipe), a quinoa casserole (because there are vegetarians in the family so we have extra meatless options), bread, and pumpkin cheesecake and chocolate angel pie as desserts. And a little mac and cheese for the little kids who look at the fancy food and say, "Ewww... I don't LIKE that!"

What does your family like?

I bought rack of lamb for New Years and there were 2 large ones in the package so I made 1 last night with roasted garlic potatoes and it was yummy.

I'm undecided on what I will cook on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve, and New Years Day.

We are a family of 3 and don't have guests coming in but I LOVE to cook holiday meals so I just make them smaller.

I have a Prime Rib roast, turkey and rack of lamb. We'll probably go out to dinner on New Years Eve since it is our anniversary. We also love beef tenderloin and somethims have that as well with demi glaze sauce.

My side dishes with turkey are the traditional side dishes I serve for Thanksgiving. This past Thanksgiving, I did not cook and we went out so this meal will be a good one!

My sides with Prime Rib are mashed potatoes, au jus gravy, green beans or broccoli.

My sides with lamb will be roasted tomato slices with assorted cheeses (my daughter got this recipe off Pinterest and we eat these 2-3 times a week), scalloped potatoes and green beans or broccoli.

We are not dessert eaters so we'll have daughter's 18th birthday cake from 12/27. Funny... over 1/2 of her speciality cake from last year is still in my freezer outside.

Enjoy!

We always have prime rib with roasted potatoes, glazed ginger carrots, creamed spinach, asparagus salad( new one this year) never had the salad just aspergus and rolls. It depends on what your wanting to do though? More laid back? I agree with the lasagna etc ideas.

Here's what we are having:
Grilled Pork Chops

Ravioli (with homemade sauce) and sprinkled fresh parmesan cheese

Swiss Chard with thick cut bacon OR Brussel Sprouts, with carmelized onions, Pancetta and lightly grated lemon zest.

Fresh Green beans

Roasted Potatoes

Arugula salad

Fresh pineapple, mango and mandarin salad

Boudin Bread

wine, beer, champagne, fresh lemonade with fresh lemons and mint

Chocoflan cake for dessert

yes....... lots of veggies.. trying to offer up some healthy choices

Merry Christmas