My gf and I have been doing different themes each year, inviting my family to join. Last year we did “soup”. We had 8 different soups in crock pots along with breads/rolls. Each person got a huge soup mug to take home after the meal.
This year we will be having appetizers. After everyone has had their fill of appetizers, we have a variety of sausages to choose from, and long handled skewer things. Everyone can roast their chosen meat over the fireplace, then eat it on a roll with whatever condiments they like.
Oh, and wine! We make/bottle about 24 gallons of wine each year, so the wine will flow.
Lots of cookie dough (you have to taste test, right?), probably will go to the Lucky Panda Chinese Buffet (or Happy Panda or Lucky Moon… take your pick) for dinner.
Hmm, not one italian in the bunch? La Vigilia Napoletana has been the tradition in my family for as long as I can remember. It is a meal consisting of at least 7 seafood dishes. This year I am hosting and we are having lobster and crab claws, pasta and clam sauce, shrimp alfredo, peel and eat shrimp, salmon and grilled sole.
We go to my mom’s country club on Christmas Eve. It’s somewhat generic fare. There’s a big table full of salads and cold seafood, another big table full of the hot dishes and a huge table of desserts.
One thing they added a couple of years ago that I really like is the kids’ buffet. It’s not exactly health food, but it’s down at kid height (probably around 2-3 feet off the ground) so they can actually see the food they’re getting. I’m sure it makes it much more enjoyable for the kids.
Christmas Eve is the day my family celebrates but my family means a total of 5 people. My boyfriend is making his chili and I am making my bread and chicken soup (since boyfriend and I are both sick and expect to still be sick on the 24th). My mom is bringing some kind of dessert.
Our tradition is to do a no-cook dinner and watch movies on Christmas eve. When we lived in Maryland, and could get pizza delivered, we ordered pizza. Unfortunately, our current burg doesn’t have a pizza delivery place. So I have some summer sausages, a few cheese bricks, some crackers, wine, and fresh fruit. I’ll put out the food, wine, soft drinks and some eggnog, and we’ll watch A Christmas Carol (the George C. Scott version), The Princess Bride and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the cartoon, not that abomination with Jim Carrey).
Baked ham, sweet potato casserole, and broccoli with cheese sauce. Possibly also sourdough bread with spinach dip, but that would mean I’d have to go to the grocery store again before Christmas, which I swore I wouldn’t do. So maybe just the ham/sweet potatoes/broccoli.
We have done Chinese take-out on Christmas Eve for roughly 25 years. All my memories of A Christmas Story are woven through lo mein noodles and pan-fried dumplings. I swear, if I ever happened across that movie in July, I would instantly crave a spring roll and some chicken fingers with hot mustard.
There are a few days of the year when I KNOW what I’ll be eating: turkey on Thanksgiving, ham on Easter, strawberry shortcake on July 4th, and Chinese take-out on December 24. Everything else is up for grabs.
My work just gave me a massive 25 pound freshly killed free-range turkey, but I believe my sister is already set with making dinner, so I’ll probably do some research and find a place that’s cooking dinner for the homeless and let them have it.
If I don’t do the Yule Feast on the 25th, we might have pizza and ice cream on Yule Eve. I’d go for Chinese takeout but I don’t think the shop near our house is open past 5p that night.
