Anything goes on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day is turkey and trimmings, or ham and trimmings. One year I think it was grilled salmon and all the trimmings. This is the Pacific Northwest after all. Once we even tried steaks. This Christmas it's turkey. One food that must always be served for Christmas is brussel sprouts. I'm not really sure why, but it isn't Christmas without them. I think mom grew up with that tradition.

Merry Christmas Duane!

Mary

As Dr. Laura says, when picking a mate there is no better compromise then "no compromise".

We have it pretty good because both of our parents live an easy driving distance and celebrate everything out of sync. As a result we will go to my parents on Christmas Eve and her parents Christmas day.

Thanksgiving was similar; we had two turkeys instead of one. First her parents home noon to 5pm and my parents 6pm on. Then we got a free turkey for buying lots of groceries at Weis and that makes 3 turkeys! (Wow! the count would love this story)

Greg

Christmas Eve - Beef Stew with popovers, a nice Zinfandel or Shiraz or Merlot, plate of the various Christmas cookies that we make for dessert.

Christmas Day - Roasted Beef Tenderloin, mashed potatoes, gravy, carrots Vichy, Peas, fresh baked bread, Champagne and a big red for wines - Chocolate charlotte with whipped cream and raspberry coulis for dessert.

But this year it is different - my wife and I are travelling to RI to spend Dec 25-31 with my parents....so it will be whatever is served to us!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, all!
Craig

After I met my husband,and started to celebrate the holidays with his family,We adopted their tradition of a big seafood feast on christmas eve.Shrimp,King crab,Calamari,baby octopus,ect.Christmas day is usually left overs and lots of baked treats.
Ann.

In New Zealand Christmas Eve isn't celebrated quite like you folk do. Xmas Eve is usually last minute shopping, work booze ups etc, Xmas Day is the big day with Turkey, Ham etc. Have ripe tomatoes, volunteer new potatoes and runner beans fresh out of the garden.We have 15 coming for Dinner. Used to be 30 but nature has taken care of a few and the remainder aren't breeding for some reason or other.
Glenn

Wow Duane, your menu is a carbon copy of ours at Christmas, to a tee!!!

"Wow! the count would love this story"

Count Von Count? Haven't watched Sesame Street in quite a long time. ;-)

I used to make homemade chili for Christmas Eve, but we started a new *tradition* a few years ago of going out to eat. :-)

Two years ago, I got tired of the turkey/ham/whatever thing, so I started making Rib Roast...YUM! It beats ham and turkey any day. And I sure do like the idea of a Seafood Feast, Ann. Not sure if I would want to give up the dinner out on Christmas Eve or usurp the Roast Beast. Those lobsters in Sam's Club sure looked good today.

barb

Christmas Eve is always at my parents where we have whatever anyone is in the mood to make. We had sandwiches and finger foods last year and grazed all night while we played board games and opened our gifts. I think we're doing the same tonight.

Christmas day is at bf's parents and we always have pork and lamb. Bf's mom is from Sicily and there is always pasta as a side dish, among other things that vary from year to year. Delicious. She also breaks out the bakala...that, I could do without...salted cod mixed with something, served cold...yuck!

I like the Ukrainian style for Christmas Eve: meatless, dairyless. Gotta love three different types of herring. If sour cream is dairy, I cheat. Joe

My husband and I don't have any of our own traditions yet. Usually, we go to his family one year (four hours away). The following year is spent with my family (in L.A. or Sacramento). At his mother's house we eat tamales (don't tell him, but they aren't very good).

At my maternal Grandmother's house (Sacramento), we used to eat tamales, but now she doesn't like to make them (hers and her sister's are the best). At my paternal grandmothers, it's usually a potluck and tamales (not very good either). It's the party house. At mom's house, we have a ham or turkey or seafood --always a very decadent American style dinner.

This year, DH and my brother had X-mas eve at my house. Per my brother's request, I made baked chicken (thighs), mashed potatoes, Toblerone cheesecake, green beans with crimini mushrooms and a nice salad with greens, dried cranberries, seedless red grapes, fuji apples, celery, English cucumbers and pecans.

NCTomatoman,

If you would please share the recipe for Beef Stew with popovers and Chocolate Charlotte. Thanks.

We're a mixed household, so we experiment with making our own traditions. I know that tamales are a tradition for some, so I made them yesterday. I can see why your grandmother doesn't like to make them any more, shesalittlebear--it was an all-day affair! LOL If you don't have your maternal grandmother's recipe, I would suggest you get it and preserve it for your family. And if you did have it and were willing to share, I'd love a copy.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, etc.!
Shelley

We do traditional American for Thanksgiving and then traditional Puertorican for Navidad. That is: arroz con gandules(spanish rice w/pigeon peas), roast pork, pasteles(the carribean version of tamales---instead of corn, the dough/masa is made out of finely grated Yucca or finely grated green bananas and some other tubers that aren't common here(yautia---aka Malanga, aka Taro root). They are then wrapped in banana leaves after they are filled with a meat mixture(usually pork). You thought tamles were a pain in the butt to make!!! Even with the food processor I spend 4 hours just making the masa---ever peel green bananas??? The other sides are usually potato salad, pan con ajo(garlic bread), and for dessert arroz con dulce (a concoction similar to rice pudding---very sweet and made with coconut cream), and tembleque---a custard made out of coconut milk, sugar, and cornstarch that is cooked on the stove and then poored into a dish to chill and sprinkled w/cinnamon. In Puerto Rico they drink coquito(like egg nog, only has coconut milk in it and usually rum). Yummy---unless you don't care for coconut. It is a lot of fun for my kids to learn about the Christmas traditions there. They get gifts from relatives here on Christmas, and more gifts from relatives in Puerto Rico on January 6th---Three Kings Day.
Sorry I wrote a novel about our Christmas traditions.

Tyffanie

Hi Shelley,

I would love your recipe for tamales. I am sure that they are fabulous.

When I was younger, my grandmother never had the patience to teach us how to make tamales. She would always complain about us mixing the masa too much, overfilling the tamales, tamales looking sloppy, we were too slow or us not washing the leaves right. My grandma is the ultimate perfectionist and solo cook.

My great aunt (same grandmother's sister) was/is the complete opposite. She really enjoyed showing us how to make tamales. Unfortunately, she lives in El Paso and we live in Sacramento, CA. She hasn't visited for X-mas in several years. Her grand-daughter, who is only a year younger than me, knows how to make all of the traditional Mexican dishes...Thanks to HER grandma.

My favorite types of tamales are cheese and green chiles. Yum, yum.

Hi Tyffanie,

Your Christmas dinner sure sounds yummy. If possible, please share your recipes for arroz con dulce, tembleque
and coquitos.

Cheers,

Angelique

Baked potato soup or chili for Christmas Eve, since we're really busy that night. The kids come in for gift exchange and dinner, then we go to Christmas Eve services. We have to be done by 10:30 so the kids can go to their in-laws and go to midnight mass. Christmas is at Brother in law #5 and Christmas night is at Brother in law #2.

My BF and I both work in retail, so we're tired after work on Christmas Eve. For the last few years I buy lots of easy nibble stuff to serve that night-good cheeses, olives, red wine, specialty breads of varying kinds, roasted nuts, tangerines and fresh pineapple...you get the idea.

Christmas morning we sleep late and have a real treat for breakfast: bacon! (We're vegetarians 99% of the time) I make a big breakfast of bacon, french toast, freshly squeezed oj, coffee.

My grandmother used to make the richest southern christmas food around. I miss her dinners now that she's gone. There was turkey, ham, cornbread dressing, giblet gravy, lots of sides....homemade caramel cake covered with crushed pecans, 6 layer chocolate cake, sweet cinnamon toasted pecans, coconut cakes, chess pies, etc. etc. And always there were loads of tangerines and navel oranges around, and walnuts.

Jen