What do you do for Christmas dinner?

[Christmas_mama]

We're vegetarians here so our roast may seem a little dull to some. We have a quorne roast (a meat substitute, comes in a roll to roast and then slice - tastes nicer than it sounds!), roasted veggie sausages wrapped in veggie bacon, roasted vegetables including carrots, parsnips and onion and roast poatoes. We also have boiled / steamed veg including peas, cabbage and brussel sprouts. On the side near the roast we have hubby's sage, onion and apple mix which is just TO. DIE. FOR. delicious! And of course the yorkshire puds on the side!!

We always have a christmas cracker to pull at the table and a glass of red wine :-) and eat the meal with our Christmas hats on! Hehe

My mouth is watering just thinking of it!

And here it is, our vegetarian roast Christmas dinner! :D

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k199/tasha-cat-mad/DSCF5609.jpg

What about you? What do you do for your Christmas day meal? Don't worry, I won't be offended by meat-eaters!

[SilverBells]

Looks good Christmas mama :elf3: We like our turkey though. So we have it with stuffing with chestnuts, mashed potatoes and gravy, two kinds of salads, feta cheese pie and spinach pie and for dessert we have a fantastic chestnut cream pie. Mmmm :rudolph:

[MinnesotaMike]

I'm as "meat-eater" as it gets. We fondue steak & chicken.

[Fezziwig]

On Christmas Eve we have strictly fish and seafood, it really varies judging on who is doing the shopping and what their tastes are. But normally a crabmeat stuffed sole or tilapia, scallops, shrimp cocktail, and then assorted veggies-- that sorta thing.

Christmas day we normally start off with Ravioli or Penne in meat sause (in liue of a salad), then break out the small appetizers, stuffed clams and mushrooms, fried cauliflower, Breads and Cheeses, kielbasa (polish sausage) and then whatever odds and ends family members bring over the house.

For dinner we have the Ham, Heavenly Ham (http://www.heavenlyham.com/Corporate/Index.asp) THE BEST for those in the know, and with all the fixings. Desert is all Italian pastries and cookies like pignoli cookies, Sfogliatelle (or Lobster Tails as some call them, my favorite) Boconnotto (a type of cream puff), and cannoli. Then all the cakes and pies, Tiramisu, Pumpkin, Apple, etc.

We're Italian so we eat a lot and being in a culturally diverse area we eat a lot of different kinds of food.

[ornamentmaven]

Fezziwig- sounds like an Italian Christmas. We also have seafood on Christmas Eve!

[MinnesotaMike]

On Christmas Eve we have strictly fish and seafood, it really varies judging on who is doing the shopping and what their tastes are. But normally a crabmeat stuffed sole or tilapia, scallops, shrimp cocktail, and then assorted veggies-- that sorta thing.

Christmas day we normally start off with Ravioli or Penne in meat sause (in liue of a salad), then break out the small appetizers, stuffed clams and mushrooms, fried cauliflower, Breads and Cheeses, kielbasa (polish sausage) and then whatever odds and ends family members bring over the house.

For dinner we have the Ham, Heavenly Ham (http://www.heavenlyham.com/Corporate/Index.asp) THE BEST for those in the know, and with all the fixings. Desert is all Italian pastries and cookies like pignoli cookies, Sfogliatelle (or Lobster Tails as some call them, my favorite) Boconnotto (a type of cream puff), and cannoli. Then all the cakes and pies, Tiramisu, Pumpkin, Apple, etc.

We're Italian so we eat a lot and being in a culturally diverse area we eat a lot of different kinds of food.

New Jersey?...Italian?...Soprano? ;)

[Camby]

The full works for us. I bought a Christmas cook book a few years back and I keep going a bit over the top with the food, but it wouldn't be Christmas if I didn't, I love it that way. :elf1:

[Papa_Christmas]

Ham, Turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, baked sweet potatoes with orange butter, green beans, glazed carrots, corn and the most wonderful yeast rolls that i get from the local kolache shop. Dessert varies from year to year usually pies and some type of Cheese cake from Cheese Cake Factory.All this followed by a nice nap:tree:

[Elvira1986]

On Christmas eve I make a fancy dinner every year. Every year something different, but always something special.

We do the traditional dinner on the first day of Christmas. 1st Christmas day we use a sort of raclette and there is meat, fish, potatoes, bread and lots of veggies and sauces. It's a bit corny but nice.

[KiltedKrew]

This is more or less what the Turkey will look like in the UK.
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/9012/a18452c2b36fb9c31a0b1a7.jpg (http://img408.imageshack.us/my.php?image=a18452c2b36fb9c31a0b1a7.jpg)
We eat Turkey Christmas Day and usually have a great big Steak & Kidney Pie (savoury) at New Year...:)
http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/8696/scottishsteakpie2.jpg (http://img241.imageshack.us/my.php?image=scottishsteakpie2.jpg)
We also have Christmas Crackers on the table to pull with each other. Inside them, is a funny little silly paper hat that we all wear whilst eating our dinner! (lol)
http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/2051/crackers.jpg (http://img837.imageshack.us/my.php?image=crackers.jpg)

[ChristmasCrazy]

We have ham on Christmas Day with squash dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, macaroni and cheese and homemade yeast rolls. Dessert is usually cheesecake and several different pies. I have a big family and every year we say that we will all stay at our own houses for Christmas Day and just enjoy our own family time. But every year, we call each other in the morning and make plans to eat Christmas dinner together. Everyone just brings what they were making and it is a big buffet. So much fun!

[MinnesotaMike]

Well, growing up, we always did fondue on Christmas Eve. Now that I am married with kids, we still go to my parents on Christmas Eve and fondue. The funny part is that we go to my in-laws on Christmas Day (after presents) and her family's tradition is to fondue on Christmas Day...so we do again!! It's the ONLY time we fondue, so it's OK to do it two days in a row.

[ornamentmaven]

Christmas Eve is a big buffet with all kinds of seafood- shrimp cocktail, crabcakes, bacon-wrapped scallops, stuffed clams oreganata. We also have swedish meatballs, baked ziti, antipasto salad, chicken cordon bleu, rice, cookies, fruitcake, fudge etc. We have my husband's whole family and usually a few friends, or daughters' boyfriends over. We start the evening out by attending the 5pm Mass, then go right into the feeding frenzy! After eating we exchange family gifts, watch family videos and listen to Christmas music.

Christmas Day is quieter. It's usually just the immediate family and my mother-in-law. We open our gifts, have a special breakfast, clean up then cook dinner. Dinner is usually roast beef, baked potatoes, salad, green beans and cheesecake. It's nice, but simple! We take the time to admire our gifts. One year it snowed 18 inches on Christmas Day. It was actually festive because everyone was snowed in and the entire neighborhood was outside sledding, building snowmen or shoveling!

[MinnesotaMike]

Yeah...I neglected to mention the vast array of appetizers our families put out for consumption. Dips, snacks, cookies, nuts, candy...you name it.

[MissSantaClaus]

Dec 24th, Christmas Eve, is the big day in Germany.
We have sausages and pretzels.
After handing out of presents we have cold punch, grandmas home made Christmas stollen ( which we always eat when we drink coffee in the afternoon ), my home made Welfenspeise and ice cream.

On Dec 25th we have turkey.

[Spoift]

I think we have a plan, after lots of discussion.

Im probably going to do braised pheasant for the adults me, DH & my mum, with roast potatoes, red cabbage, Yorkshire puds I know they dont go, but DH would feel robbed if he didnt get a Yorkshire pud, roast parsnips, sprouts & peas. Im hoping to make the braised pheasant the day before, as it apparently according to Delia tastes better on the day after making. For the DDs I thought I might do them a poussin each - they love chicken, and theyd probably appreciate the mini-ness of a poussin.

Not keen on Christmas cake or Christmas pud, so am planning a trifle for dessert, plus perhaps a lemon tart with ice cream.

Starters will be smoked salmon & selection of other cold meats for DH who doesnt like smoked salmon.

Anyone else care to share their Xmas lunch menus?

[hazelnut]

We dont make too much of a fuss over crimbo dinner.

We have roast lamb, roast spuds cabbage carrots, sausages in bacon, yorksire pudding ( i know they are only meant to be with beef but we love them) peas honey roast parsnips.

We dont do a starter and generally dont bother with much pudding as we are full from dinner lol

It the snack gobblies that make crimbo in our house, the cheeses, pates, sweets, biscuits :dizzy:

Re the vegetarian option, when I was a veggie I loved (and still do) the cashew nut roast that you could get from health food shops, mmmmmm May have to get one soon, love it with lots of gravey!

[maxmelt86]

Our Christmas eve my family does a pot luck style dinner where everyone brings their best dish. Which ever family members house will do the main course, which is usually either a baked ham , roast beef, hen or duck. Then on Christmas day we find a Chinese restaurant open and have "A Christmas Story" style dinner.

[purpleskies]

we have 4 family functions we go to every christmas eve and christmas day. my husband and i's dads sides are on christmas eve and my dads side has more like apptizers like crackers,cheese and sausage and ham sandwich type stuff then my husbands dad has turkey and rolls and lots of sweets! our moms sides are on christmas day and its basically the same one mom does appetizer style food and then my mom does a huge dinner which i always look forward to because when i was growing up it was always turkey mac and cheese homemade dinner rolls all kinds of veggies mashed potatoes the list goes on!!! to me that is how you do a christmas dinner! lol :elf3:

[ornamentmaven]

we have 4 family functions we go to every christmas eve and christmas day. my husband and i's dads sides are on christmas eve and my dads side has more like apptizers like crackers,cheese and sausage and ham sandwich type stuff then my husbands dad has turkey and rolls and lots of sweets! our moms sides are on christmas day and its basically the same one mom does appetizer style food and then my mom does a huge dinner which i always look forward to because when i was growing up it was always turkey mac and cheese homemade dinner rolls all kinds of veggies mashed potatoes the list goes on!!! to me that is how you do a christmas dinner! lol :elf3:

Well - you are very lucky because, even though you have to do alot of running around, you get to spend time with everyone! My husband's entire family - Mom, brothers & their wives and nieces and nephews all live within an hour of us. The bulk of my family lives 4.5 hours away and my sister and her family live on the other side of the country - so I rarely see them!

[purpleskies]

yea it is very hectic but its nice that we get to see everyone! i have a few relatives this year that have moved to other states though so i wont get to see them for christmas :(

[ornamentmaven]

yea it is very hectic but its nice that we get to see everyone! i have a few relatives this year that have moved to other states though so i wont get to see them for christmas :(

Its so hard when people move way. I've only seen my sister and her family twice for Christmas since she moved to the other side of the US (Seattle), more than 30 years ago!

[Noelle]

Christmas Day we tend to snack throughout the day. Homemade cheese biscuits, Virginia Ham biscuits, candy, chocolate. There's fruit there, too, but no one ever touches it until, like, the 29 when everything else is gone or just about gone.

Our dinner is sandwiches. Fancy sandwiches, though. Fancy breads, meats, cheeses, spreads, etc. And it's a Create Your Own type of deal. I've always, even as a kid, have gone for the dark pumpernickel with black olives and cream cheese. Another favorite is to pile all the cheeses on either sourdough or Jewish Rye.

For a couple of years, after my brother was all, "We need a proper dinner," we had chicken cordon bleu. The frozen ones where you toss them in the microwave for a few minutes. Then he got sick off of it and that was the end of that.

[Mazzy]

It depends where me and hubby are for Christmas. If we are staying in Liverpool his mum cooks a big turkey and carrots and green veggies, Hubby makes his amazing roast potatoes and parsnips and yorkshire puddings and sister in law brings the stuffing. I make the desert which we eat about 4ish hours later because we are full. If we go to my family then my Dad cooks the whole lot and no one is allowed into the kitchen at all. He cooks enough to feed a small army :christmasdinner:

[Winters Song]

Actually for Christmas dinner my mom makes a pasta dish!She isn't a big fan of Turkey and being so soon after Thanksgiving she likes to make something differant & I am a vegatarian so I don't mind at all.She changes it every year one year she'll make baked ziti or a ravioli casserole etc.....anything she makes is yummy!

[Christmas_mama]

Actually for Christmas dinner my mom makes a pasta dish!She isn't a big fan of Turkey and being so soon after Thanksgiving she likes to make something differant & I am a vegatarian so I don't mind at all.She changes it every year one year she'll make baked ziti or a ravioli casserole etc.....anything she makes is yummy!

Wow, I can't imagine not having a roast, and especially can't imagine having pasta, on Christmas day haha But then, we don't have Thanksgiving here so it's not like we've just had a big roast.

When I lived at home, my mum always did roast Turkey with stuffing, veg, roast potatoes and all the trimmings... I don't eat meat anymore but the roast is a tradition that I just have to have :elf1:

[Fezziwig]

I have come to find, after speaking with many of you guys around the world, that American Christmas festivities aren't really "Traditional" as we are not really a "Traditional" people in the Nation sense. Our Thanksgiving falls a couple weeks before Christmas so I don't know many who eat Turkey on Christmas after having it a earlier. My family, as I mentioned earlier in the post, are Ham people. We eat Ham every Christmas Day.

In the US (much as Canada or Australia I would assume) we are a country of Immigrants and each culture brings something different to the table -- both literally and figuratively. My girlfriends family came from Columbia and the first Christmas I visited with them we mostly had different kinds of fish and fried foods -- strange I thought at the time but it was how they Celebrated over there. When she came by me she thought it was strange that we were eating ravioli. Our tradition is kinda adopted from everywhere else and incorporated into something distinctly American.

My flag waving is done, lol. I was just pointing out an observation.

[ornamentmaven]

Agreed, we never have Turkey for Christmas way too soon after Thanksgiving. On Christmas Eve it's a buffet of meats, pastas and seafood. On Christmas day it is usually Roast beef

[storm85]

Aussie here so our menu is a little unusual.

Breakfast is usually a massive fry up consisting of steak, eggs, baked beans, bacon, chipolatas, sausages mushrooms, tomatoes

We usually have a massive lunch following that of roast beef, turkey and pork, salt and pepper calamari,garlic prawns & with fresh prawns, full roast veggies but also lots of salads (pasta/potato/greek/garden/bean/coleslaw) and usually a potato bake & pasta bake thrown in there as well. for dessert we usually have cheesecake, trifle, apple pie and Christmas pud and we usually snack on this all day or have left overs for dinner.
we usually have anywhere from 9 people to 30 for lunch depending on whats going on.

We also always have cheese and antipasto platters to start off lunch with.

We also spend most of the day swimming and drinking beer :xmaswink:

[Christmas_mama]

Aussie here so our menu is a little unusual.

Breakfast is usually a massive fry up consisting of steak, eggs, baked beans, bacon, chipolatas, sausages mushrooms, tomatoes

We usually have a massive lunch following that of roast beef, turkey and pork, salt and pepper calamari,garlic prawns & with fresh prawns, full roast veggies but also lots of salads (pasta/potato/greek/garden/bean/coleslaw) and usually a potato bake & pasta bake thrown in there as well. for dessert we usually have cheesecake, trifle, apple pie and Christmas pud and we usually snack on this all day or have left overs for dinner.
we usually have anywhere from 9 people to 30 for lunch depending on whats going on.

We also always have cheese and antipasto platters to start off lunch with.

We also spend most of the day swimming and drinking beer :xmaswink:

How can you eat that much in one day?! I think I'd be sick! :santahat:

[storm85]

How can you eat that much in one day?! I think I'd be sick! :santahat:

Yeap we end up really full, lunch is usually served around 1 or 2 after the nibblies then we usually eat and talk till about 4. Then me and hubby are so full we usually take a nap on the couch or go upstairs to take a nap in bed with the air con blasting because it is usually stinking hot.

Thats not usually the end of it. We end up heading to my Aunts place to see my mums side of the family for dinner most years around 6pm. Our background is Indian so we have massive curries, rice,potatoes roti, lamb kofta's, tandoori chicken, salad, potato bake, pasta salad, chip and cheese platters. Then for dessert we always have heaps of cakes as my sister works for a bakery distributor so we get cheesecake, mud cake, pavlova, trifle, fruit salad ice cream and wash it down with massive amounts of alcohol

[ChristmasFairy]

Wow, I can't imagine not having a roast, and especially can't imagine having pasta, on Christmas day haha But then, we don't have Thanksgiving here so it's not like we've just had a big roast.
Same here .... can't imagine not having a roast turkey for Christmas dinner .... it's just traditional for us :tree:

[ornamentmaven]

Roast beef, baked potatoes, salad, veggies, rolls, fruitcake and cookies

[frostythesnowman]

roast turkey,roast beef,pigs in blankets,stuffing,carrots,swede,roast potatoes,boiled potatoes....

[Penny Berry]

Turkey, stuffing, cabbage, roast potatoes, roast parsnips, carrots, pigs in blanket