So a question in two parts:
Where yo live what is the stereotypical Christmas dinner, and when do you have it?
Secondly if you are doing something different - what are you doing?
Oops! Forgot my own reply.
In England turkey is the stereotypical christmas dinner, served with any of the following: Cranberry sauce; stuffing (various kinds) Bacon; sausages/sausagemeat; roast spuds; sprouts (vital) and various other winter veg. That would be followed by Christmas Pudding (yum yum) which comes with brandy butter (urgh!), custard or cream. Mince pies will almost certainly be in evidence too.
Other essential ingredients are a christmas cracker with crpa toy and even crappier joke (it is traditional that these jokes are dreadful - and they never dissapoint). The cracker also contains a paper hat that it is complusory to wear (this is doubly true for tipsy elderly female relatives).
It should be eaten at 3.15pm just after The Queen’s Speech.
The other thing that is traditional is a family arguement just before the James Bond film comes on. (And an Owl household tradition is that at least one of the kid’s toys must by now have been broken)
OK remember I’m talking about Alabama Traditional Christmas Dinner…
Baked Ham (that Santa conveniently puts in the oven around 3 am so you wake to the wonderful aroma)
Potato Salad
7-layer Salad
Deviled Eggs (appropriate, no?)
Hot Yeast Rolls
and more cookies than you can possibly eat.
Everything is made the day before so there is more time for opening presents.
I live in Spain, in a part called Navarra (points at username). In Spain it is traditional to have soup for the Xmas dinner, and as second a roast of fish. Dessert includes these special Xmas sweets made from almonds, eggyolk and sugar, called “turron”. The English part of the label calls them “nougats” and I know you can find them in the US; the real-traditional ones are Jijona (sometimes spelled Xixona), guirlache and Alicante (or Alacant). Jijona is soft, guirlache and Alicante are hard as rocks so you’re supposed to suck on it rather than bite. Actually, I’m not sure a granite boulder would stand much of a chance against a slightly-old brick of Alicante; they’re called “bricks” of turron for a reason.
Mom makes the dinner that’s traditional in her family; she’s from Barcelona and has Italian ancestry. The soup is “cocido”, chickpea soup with a lot of meats; then the fish, then dessert. The Italian part is relevant because a lot of Italians who were escaping their country’s unification stopped in Barcelona and stayed (others went ahead to the US and Argentina mostly); they brought over the tradition of using the meat from the soup to make canelloni the next day. In Catalonia, the area where Barcelona is, the second day of any “pascua” (easter, xmas and pentecostes) is always a holiday.
It’s been a long time since Mom stopped making the canelloni from scratch; now they’re store-bought and the meat from the soup just goes to coldcuts.
My grandfather considers that a proper Christmas cocido should have at least half an inch of fat congealing on top, but we’re nasty and force him to have a version where the fat has been mostly chopped off the meat before boiling. Dude’s 90 years old and has no guts left (literally) so he’s not allowed to eat anything that Grandma considers “hard to digest” (91yo and with enough non-literal guts for a family of eight).
Doh sorry… I jumped over one day!
The soup and fish is “good night”, Xmas Eve.
Xmas itself, each family just pours out the food for lunch; lots of shellfish, sometimes fowl; no red meats. Don’t even think of looking for pork at the butcher’s, this time of year. Xmas lunch tends to be on the same scale as your average wedding banquet, only you get turron instead of a multilayered cake. Last year we sat down at table at 2pm and wobbled to the kitchen with the last dishes after 6pm, and my family is moderate.
After such a lunch, most people will skip dinner on Xmas day.
And day after Xmas, the canelloni.
When I was growing up, the tradition was Italian, which roughly translates to “a lot of fish.” Stuffed calamari in the spaghetti sauce, raw clams and oysters, crab legs. Dessert was always biscotti with espresso and anisette, and a fruit tray - tangerines, pomegranates, figs, dates and nuts.
Now I live in a very homogenous suburb in the Midwest, and tradition here is turkey or ham. We like to be different, so we generally do a pork roast plus some vegetarian option for my sister-in-law and my niece, on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day, we have cinnamon rolls and coffee for breakfast, then my family comes over and we usually have pasta - lasagne or gnocchi.
Christmas Eve - just me and my hubby - something special - steak, etc. then christmas day: breakfast with hubby’s parents: sausage, bacon, eggs, toast. Christmas dinner on Christmas day: turkey, sausage dressing, turnip, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits and pies (pumpkin, usually) with whipped cream. The Boxing day, the tree comes down, everything gets put away and we’re on to another year!
Georgia here. Like DeVena said about Alabama, ham is the tradition here also. However, my family is a bunch of radicals so we have chicken pie. Not chicken pot pie with all the veggies but chicken pie which is chicken in an eggy, creamy sauce with a wonderful, yummy, browned crust. MMMMMMMM! There will be lots and lots of sides also. Greens, beans, peas, squash, smashed taters, rolls, if it can possibly fit on the table it’ll be there. Desserts are cakes, pies (fried apple and peach pies!) and all kinds of candies.
The chicken pie thing started with my mother because by Christmas everybody was tired of ham and turkey. Everywhere you go from Thanksgiving til Christmas Day it’s all ham and turkey. Chicken pie is a wonderful, yummy, warm comfort food that’s especially nice on a cold Christmas Day.
Oh, and wine. Lots of wine. I’m in charge of wine so I make sure all adult partakers are nicely buzzed when it’s time to open the presents after dinner. Just my little contribution to family harmony. 
This year we’re changing things up due to family obligations.
Xmas Eve, after the 4pm church service and before the 11pm church service, LilMiss and I will be at the Ex’s aunts’ house for dinner. It will be turkey, stuffing, taters, green bean casserole, rolls, yams, and my desserts.
XMas Day, when we usually celebrate around noon at my parents house, LilMiss and I will just be hanging out. Maybe go see a few movies, order pizza, curl up. My sis and her fiance will be in South Dakota, coming home Xmas Day night, so the holiday was postponed until…
December 26th, 6pm. Dinner at my sisters house. Turkey, stuffing, twice baked potatoes, wild rice hotdish, polish sausage, piroghis, green bean casserole, yams, and again my desserts.
This year my desserts will be:
At Auntie’s house: rum balls, spritz cookies, chocolate walnut cheesecake, PB kiss cookies, homemade Oreos, and oatmeal raisin cookies.
At Sis’s house: replace the cheesecake with banana cream pie and a pecan pie. Add Special K Bars and regular peanut butter kisses.
I’m Australian, but work in London. I had corporate Xmas lunch two hours ago (the third of five!) and your description matches it to a tee. Right down to the sausage wrapped in bacon (bizarre), brussel sprouts and crap jokes.
Back home in Australia, Xmas lunch is typically a bigger occasion than dinner. Australia is barely old enough for “traditions”, but the emphasis is on cold dishes and salads. It’s too freaking warm for hot roasts and the such so it’s usually cold ham or turkey on the bone. Cold barbequed chickens often feature, as well as such vegetable delights such as coleslaw, green salad, rocket and asparagus. (If one has a senile relative or slightly odd family member, coleslaw dotted with sultanas is a near certainty). Cold crayfish (lobster) and king prawns also sell hugely before Xmas. If you’re posh, oysters au naturale may be served for starters. For desserts, the great Aussie culinary invention that is pavlova is a possiblity, coupled with cold trifle, icecream and cheesecake.
Serve with litres of cold beer and white wine, on a picnic blanket under an umbrella, on a sandy beach. Garnish with jellyfish stings, sunburn and a long, hot car ride home with sand in your butt crack.
owlstretchingtime, please tell me more about the Christmas pudding. I’ve heard so much about it, but never anything specific about what it is exactly or how it tastes. If it sounds yummy, I’d like to try making it sometime.
The traditional Christmas meal around these parts is usually turkey or ham. Many people I know have oyster stew on Christmas Eve.
In our family, we have our big Christmas meal on Christmas Eve at my grandma’s. We usually have ham, though sometimes she makes roast beef in addition that. She makes lutefisk, too. For those who don’t know, lutefisk is fish soaked in lye that you eat with melted butter. It smells terrible! We usually have mashed potatoes (though this year I think she’s making scalloped), some other sort of vegetables I never eat, and lefse. For dessert we usually have grasshoppers (ice cream blended with creme de menthe) and there are always cookies (spritz, rosettes, grandma’s English toffee).
On Christmas morning we go to my mom’s for brunch. When I was 2, we had an exchange student from Finland and she taught my sister how to make pulla (I think that’s how you spell it), a Finnish Christmas bread. We also make breakfast burritos with eggs, hash browns, bacon, sausage, salsa, cheese, etc., and usually have pancakes or French toast for the kids.
In the afternoon, when we see my mom’s side of the family, everyone just brings munchies and we graze all afternoon.
My in-laws have a pretty traditional dinner, though my mother-in-law likes to mix it up with new recipes now and then. I appreciate that because there’s only so much ham a person can eat in two days’ time. One year she made pork loin with apricot sauce that was to die for! She makes rice pudding with lingenberries for dessert, and we always have a variety of other goodies to choose from.
Ooh, I think I could get to like some chicken pie. Wanna share the recipe, Swampbear?
On my side of the family, Christmas Eve is lasagna, salad and assorted sides and desserts that vary with the whim and current dietary restrictions of the various family memebers. Christmas morning we eat around 9 or so, and breakfast is eggs, bacon and/or sausage, biscuits and gravy, and sometimes hashbrowns. Christmas dinner is turkey, ham, dressing, cranberry salad (not sauce, salad), green beans, sweet taters, and assorted sides, followed up by the pies (generally pumpkin and pecan) and Grandma’s jam cake. We usually start loading the plates around 1 or so.
Sure thing! Well, that is, provided my four functioning brain cells can remember to do that when I get home tonight, I’ll shoot ya an email. It’s an easy recipe and just sooooo nummy!
Jervoise I’ve always wanted to go somewhere where it’s summer time at Christmas just cause I think it’d be fun to hang out at a pool or beach on Christmas Day. Course, since I bring the wine, my family might notice my absence so I guess that ain’t gonna happen. Sigh
yellowval I wouldn’t have the faintest idea how to go about making christmas pudding - I know you have to start about a month before christmas, and keep feeding it brandy.
As to what its like: it’s a VERY rich ,sweet pudding made of things like fruit and suet. This recipe sounds about right (being a bloke I obviously have no real idea). You poor brandy over it and set it on fire. This goes down well with the kids - especially when you set you comical paper hat on fire.
You can get it online from those british grocery sites. I would heartily recommend it (although I wouldn’t recommend it for your heart!)
Huh. I thought that was what we did to grandma before Christmas! Here, this whole time I was supposed to be feeding the brandy to the Christms pudding!
It really does sound delightful, though I think I can do without starting my head on fire. My family would definitely love that part of it, though. I am going to have to add “eat Christmas pudding” to my list of things to do before I die!
We have tourtiere Christmas Eve and coffee cake for Christmas breakfast. We’re starting to incorporate my fiance’s Portuguese traditions into Christmas Eve dinner, so there’s now also fish.
Lunch on Christmas day is light, maybe some cheese and fruit.
Then for dinner, turkey, stuffing, potatoes, yams, turnip, veggies, rolls, and don’t forget the gherkins. Dessert must be trifle.
Boxing Day we always always have a brunch of English muffins spread with Imperial cheese and crisp bacon and broiled in the oven, amazing.
Then of course, a week of turkey sandwiches.
(I’m in Ontario, by the way, but other than the turkey I don’t think our dinners are all that typical for the area)
And don’t you imbed a sixpence or two in it as well? The Clanger family has been known to have goose (also traditional/Dickensian fare) instead of turkey. Everything else checks out: roast spuds, brussel sprouts, cranberry sauce, bacony-sausages crackers. . .
Is it surely also traditional for the leftover turkey to last for many many days?
BTW Christmas Pudding has the same density as Futurama style Dark Matter
It’s nice, but probably lacks the romance of a cosy Xmas dinner at home with the family while its cold outside.
I’m lucky this year – I get the festive run-up to Xmas in England, then I’m flying home on Boxing Day in time for Xmas night!
jervoise (and other antipodeans etc…
Do you send each other cards with snowmen, winterscenes, robins etc on them? If not what do you have on your cards?
I am a bit unhappy to find out that the comical hat is not a global phenomenon.
Another thing that it is traditional (in OWL towers at least) to do is to spend at least an hour or so on xmas morning in the pub. This is a tradition worth defending.
Also: Yanks - do you go back to work on the 26th (here in Britain most people are off until the 2nd Jan at the earliest)
well in NJ where I lived most of my life it was in an Italian home so it was lasagna. Lasagna w/meatballs and italian sausage.
but before lasaga we eat a bowl of soup.
Did I mention the lasagna is all from scratch? Even the sauce? yeeeees. I have this recipe and now that I live in AR, I make it a tradition for my husband and I on xmas eve.
however here in AR, the tradition is like others from the south have said. Ham, dressing, potato salad, baked beans etc.
Personally I like the lasagna better