Christmas Eve dinner

[Anonymous]

We do heavy apps and wine, and open some small gifts from extended family followed by Christmas cookies

[Anonymous]

Chinese takeout feast for Christmas Eve!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd love ideas too! We have a lot going on smack in the middle of dinnertime - I'm hoping to take kids to the children's church service at 5:30, while my husband drives an hour to pick up a visiting relative at 7. There's no way we'll be able to have a sit down dinner together, I need to figure out something we can keep hot or reheat quickly for the adults around 8, but is still nice enough to seem festive or special for our visitor.

Lasagna was one I thought of, but I don't know if it counts as a nice holiday meal to most people?

NP. We save our “nice holiday meal” for Christmas Day, in the evening. Christmas Eve is about getting to and from church, which is usually a 6 p.m. service or so. So you eat chili beforehand and have Christmas cookies after. There’s also setting up for Santa to deal with. I save our holiday meal for the day we have to fully relax, stay home and take our time.

PP you're responding to - I would do this if we were hosting both, but it looks like we'll all be going to a sibling's for Christmas dinner. The relative staying with us is visiting our place for the first time and making a short trip, so I'd like to make it nice for them, but am not sure of their favorites (spouse and I both asked and were told "whatever you have will be fine").

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd love ideas too! We have a lot going on smack in the middle of dinnertime - I'm hoping to take kids to the children's church service at 5:30, while my husband drives an hour to pick up a visiting relative at 7. There's no way we'll be able to have a sit down dinner together, I need to figure out something we can keep hot or reheat quickly for the adults around 8, but is still nice enough to seem festive or special for our visitor.

Lasagna was one I thought of, but I don't know if it counts as a nice holiday meal to most people?

NP. We save our “nice holiday meal” for Christmas Day, in the evening. Christmas Eve is about getting to and from church, which is usually a 6 p.m. service or so. So you eat chili beforehand and have Christmas cookies after. There’s also setting up for Santa to deal with. I save our holiday meal for the day we have to fully relax, stay home and take our time.

PP you're responding to - I would do this if we were hosting both, but it looks like we'll all be going to a sibling's for Christmas dinner. The relative staying with us is visiting our place for the first time and making a short trip, so I'd like to make it nice for them, but am not sure of their favorites (spouse and I both asked and were told "whatever you have will be fine").

*we will do a big Christmas breakfast though.

[Anonymous]

Tamales are the traditional food for Christmas Eve dinner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd love ideas too! We have a lot going on smack in the middle of dinnertime - I'm hoping to take kids to the children's church service at 5:30, while my husband drives an hour to pick up a visiting relative at 7. There's no way we'll be able to have a sit down dinner together, I need to figure out something we can keep hot or reheat quickly for the adults around 8, but is still nice enough to seem festive or special for our visitor.

Lasagna was one I thought of, but I don't know if it counts as a nice holiday meal to most people?

NP. We save our “nice holiday meal” for Christmas Day, in the evening. Christmas Eve is about getting to and from church, which is usually a 6 p.m. service or so. So you eat chili beforehand and have Christmas cookies after. There’s also setting up for Santa to deal with. I save our holiday meal for the day we have to fully relax, stay home and take our time.

PP you're responding to - I would do this if we were hosting both, but it looks like we'll all be going to a sibling's for Christmas dinner. The relative staying with us is visiting our place for the first time and making a short trip, so I'd like to make it nice for them, but am not sure of their favorites (spouse and I both asked and were told "whatever you have will be fine").

*we will do a big Christmas breakfast though.

This is OP- what do you do for Christmas breakfast?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For us, Christmas Eve is always Feast of the Seven Fishes, a popular Italian American tradition for xmas eve.

We will usually have 1 main "cooked" dish, like cioppino or linguine with clam sauce, which can be made in advance. Everything else is from the market, including cracked crab, chilled shrimp, smoked salmon, crab cakes, caviar.

It feels very festive.

https://www.washingtonian.com/2022/12/07/where-to-find-feasts-of-the-seven-fishes-around-dc-for-christmas-eve/

You do 7 different dishes!

We put shrimp, calamari, clams, mussels and scallops in our pasta.

That’s 5

Crab dip and smoked salmon as app.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For us, Christmas Eve is always Feast of the Seven Fishes, a popular Italian American tradition for xmas eve.

We will usually have 1 main "cooked" dish, like cioppino or linguine with clam sauce, which can be made in advance. Everything else is from the market, including cracked crab, chilled shrimp, smoked salmon, crab cakes, caviar.

It feels very festive.

https://www.washingtonian.com/2022/12/07/where-to-find-feasts-of-the-seven-fishes-around-dc-for-christmas-eve/

You do 7 different dishes!

We put shrimp, calamari, clams, mussels and scallops in our pasta.

That’s 5

Crab dip and smoked salmon as app.

We did a traditional Italian meal growing up, but it was squid in tomato sauce with pasta. Man it smelled.

[Anonymous]

If lasagne doesn’t seem quite fancy enough, maybe manicotti or stuffed shells? With a nice antipasto and good garlic bread.

[Anonymous]

Fondue for us! 3 courses, cheese (apples, pear, bread), meat (shrimp, chicken and beef in broth), and of course chocolate (brownies, pretzels, the kids like marshmallows, and some fruit)

It's a decadent meal that takes a long time, which is fine. We have good company, 3 tweens plus grandparents. We are in no rush as we are attending midnight mass

[Anonymous]

I have made lasagna ahead of time and just put it in the Loren when we got back. Now I get Lebanese party platters for takeout. The place near me makes platters of rice, shawarma, salad, hummus, pita, and sauces, and it feeds a crows and everyone loves it. I pick up in the afternoon before church, and reheat the rice and meat in the oven when we get back.

I have also done shrimp scampi over linguini. You come home, boil the pasta, and take out the quick ingredients for the sauce (chopping done earlier) - shrimp cooks really quickly and it’s a two-pot meal.

[Anonymous]

We always used to do chicken enchiladas because my mother would make broth for soup course for Christmas and we’d have all the shredded chicken from the broth to use up. It was yummy. Use salsa verde for part of it for a festive look—some restaurants call that Christmas enchiladas or flag enchiladas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have made lasagna ahead of time and just put it in the Loren when we got back. Now I get Lebanese party platters for takeout. The place near me makes platters of rice, shawarma, salad, hummus, pita, and sauces, and it feeds a crows and everyone loves it. I pick up in the afternoon before church, and reheat the rice and meat in the oven when we get back.

I have also done shrimp scampi over linguini. You come home, boil the pasta, and take out the quick ingredients for the sauce (chopping done earlier) - shrimp cooks really quickly and it’s a two-pot meal.

Oh the Lebanese is a good idea- my husband LOVES the Smitten Kitchen "street cart chicken" recipe, which has most of those components, and it's mostly make ahead, just would need to saute the chicken when they get in. Could do spanakopita or other mezes to feel more like a feast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If lasagne doesn’t seem quite fancy enough, maybe manicotti or stuffed shells? With a nice antipasto and good garlic bread.

How is either of those fancier than lasagna?

[Anonymous]

We always go out for an early supper on Christmas Eve. When our kids were still little, everyone would come home and open two gifts. One was always Christmas Pajamas. They changed into their new pajamas. We would make them thermoses of hot chocolate and drive around looking at the lights and listening to Christmas music.

My parents did this with us as well. And now my oldest and his wife are continuing the tradition with their kids.