What do you eat for Christmas Eve dinner?

Anonymous
Lobster, cold Peel n eat super jumbo shrimp, linguini, smoked salmon..

Yummy!!! My dad is 1/2 Sicilian and does our Xmas eve dinner---going on 40+ kids and my siblings and I have never missed a single one.

It's the highlight of my year


What's your address?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Chinese food. We're Jewish.




Same. Except the first year we moved to Bethesda we hadn't made reservations at our favorite place (this was unnecessary in Philly and NY, our hometowns) and it was so crowded we wound up going for sushi instead. So, so wrong. It really isn't Jewish tradition without Chinese food.

I find the range of foods people have listed to be fascinating! I kind of figured there would be a reasonably set menu like there is on Thanksgiving, where most people at least make an attempt at turkey or cranberry something-or-other. But it sounds like the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day foods vary considerably.
Anonymous
Christmas Eve is our formal holiday dinner. China, silver and crystal. Good table linens. No denim allowed. If we are at my parents or our house, this is the menu:
cheese platter
shrimp cocktail
cocktails

standing rib roast (aka prime rib)
oven roasted potatoes
yorkshire pudding
brussels sprouts
salad with boston lettuce, pomegranate seeds, mandarin oranges, toasted almonds
red wine
plum pudding with hard sauce for dessert

port after the kids have gone to bed.

Christmas morning we'll have a kringle (so much better than the stolen I grew up with!), breakfast casserole, OJ, hot chocolate, coffee.

Christmas Day dinner is spiral ham, baked apples, sweet potatoes, salad, maybe green beans. Banana cream pie for dessert if my aunt is around to make it.
Anonymous
When I was young we had something called "city chicken" which I learned is veal (bread in cube pieces like chicken nuggets on a stick, but years before chicken nuggets came out). I do not understand why someone would call veal chicken.

We then had many years where we ordered pizza as my grandmother was getting older and we didn't want her to cook all week. I have fond memories of pizza and card games with the family.

Now that my mom is the g'mother. It seems that we do something different every year as my siblings are getting married and having kids and the "family" is changing.
Anonymous
We're not Jewish but we do Chinese food as well.

I used to host Christmas Eve dinner for the family and went to both of our parents's houses for Christmas Day but once I had kids, I decided that I wasn't going to drag the kids all around town on Christmas Day (all of our family is local). So, now I host Christmas instead. I've been waiting for someone else to take over Christmas Eve but it hasn't happened yet. So, we've created our own tradition of Chinese food and cookie making on Christmas Eve and my in-laws usually stop by and hang out with us. Honestly, it's become one of my favorite traditions.
Anonymous
We do a night of drinks and appetizers
Anonymous
Tamales
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Christmas Eve dinner is late afternoon on Christmas Eve and is huge: turkey or salmon, stuffing, scalloped potatoes or mashed, green bean fish, salad, homemade applesauce, homemade cranberry sauce, pie etc.

We make a huge amount because Christmas Day is a no cooking day. . We eat the leftovers from Christmas Eve. I also make a sausage/cheese/egg/bread bake that I keep in the fridge overnight. It is ready to go in the oven on Christmas morning for 45 minutes. So we have that with fruit and coffee for a brunch.

I do as much of my cooking ahead of time so I can enjoy my family. My DH is the better cook, so he does alot of the more difficult dishes and he does the baking.


the bread bake sounds good - can you share recipe please?
Anonymous
Growing up on the Canadian border w/ French-Canadian grandparents we always did meat pie. I kind of miss it. Now we make a pot of homemade sauce w/ meatballs and sausages for meatball subs. Formal dinner is on Christmas Day.
Anonymous
I am from Brazil so I do it brazilian style - big dinner on Christmas Eve (growing up it was usually spiral ham, turkey AND a small roasted pig. Here I only do ham because we do turkey for Thanksgiving and I am not a big fan of turkey anyways).

Lots of nuts and antipastos and rabanada (similar to french toast), white rice, potatoes, salad, brussels sprouts (I like caramelized bs) and farofa.

It is very little food compared to what I was used growing up, but it is more than enough for a small family.

For Christmas day we do what they call "bury the bones" which means eating the left overs from the previous night while drinking some wine or scotch and enjoying the company of family.

There we open the gifts after midnight, but I like the American tradition of waking up to see the gifts better
Anonymous
Fondu - only the cheese and chocolate course, though. Often have sweadish meatballs in between. Our group is about 6 adults and 3 kids, so it works for us. Would be hard if your group gets too big. This has been more of a recent tradition - we have no real set meal.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Christmas Eve is our formal holiday dinner. China, silver and crystal. Good table linens. No denim allowed. If we are at my parents or our house, this is the menu:
cheese platter
shrimp cocktail
cocktails

standing rib roast (aka prime rib)
oven roasted potatoes
yorkshire pudding
brussels sprouts
salad with boston lettuce, pomegranate seeds, mandarin oranges, toasted almonds
red wine
plum pudding with hard sauce for dessert

port after the kids have gone to bed.

Christmas morning we'll have a kringle (so much better than the stolen I grew up with!), breakfast casserole, OJ, hot chocolate, coffee.

Christmas Day dinner is spiral ham, baked apples, sweet potatoes, salad, maybe green beans. Banana cream pie for dessert if my aunt is around to make it.


A) I love this thread.

B) I could eat Yorkshire pudding every day of my life.
Anonymous
OP here. I love this thread too and I'm so appreciative for all the responses. I'm going to pick a few and have my family take a vote to see what our new tradish should be. Thanks everyone, it is SO fun to read about people's traditions.
Anonymous
We do Chinese or Thai and save room in the fridge for Christmas Day stuff. Same the night before Thanksgiving.
Anonymous
Not the "bread bake" referrer, but we also do an overnight breakfast casserole on Christmas morning. Totally unhealthy. Totally delicious. We toast to those we've lost with mimosas as well.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/christmas-breakfast-sausage-casserole/
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