We usually go out on Christmas Eve. Because being Santa’s helper is a hella ton of work.

Anonymous wrote:I’d normally be fine with it but the mac and cheese on their hot bar is gross.

I thought so, but covered and rebaked in the oven it got gooey with browned parts around. It was surprisingly good!

Yes. We are traveling this year and did very limited gifts as a result. Dinner at a relative's house was simple (I mean the menu was simple) and timed so that everyone could drive back to their lodging before dark. So we'll have a quiet cozy night in.

It was great.

Anonymous wrote:We started scaling down a few years ago. It’s lovely to reduce stress.

This.

I’m resistant to Thanksgiving 2.0 for Christmas. We did Jamaican tonight.

I’d normally be fine with it but the mac and cheese on their hot bar is gross.

Yes, we did apps/cookies and a pie. Wonderful!

We got a bunch of apps/cheeses/wines from Trader Joe’s and had a ton of fun!

Ordered a “basic holiday dinner” from Fresh Market…best holiday meal ever! Enjoyed eating together not cooking all day!

Same!

We started scaling down a few years ago. It’s lovely to reduce stress.

We did the reverse and did a bit spread last night with family and are taking it easy today. Turns out no one goes to church on Christmas Day anymore so easy to find seats and very low stress. We’re having steak for dinner and roasted vegetables—feels like a splurge but takes 10 minutes. Did Leftovers for lunch.

I’m with u OP. We had an English roast dinner today ( I’m English) but I cheated and bought a rotisserie chicken yesterday so I didn’t have to cook one today. Also did frozen mixed veg.

My mom is the type to turn her nose up at premade not-from-scratch foods. But she works herself to the bone for special occasions and exhausts herself. It never made sense to me. Why the snobbery? I like cooking from scratch and I'm good at it, but if the occasion has some premade stuff, it means someone gets to rest! And that's cause for celebration.

We’ve morphed into having a killer charcuterie board and fun dips. DD LOVES it and it’s so easy and fun! Bring on the party food and keep it easy!

It's just the three of us and DH is sick. We picked up an organic rotisserie chicken from WF, premade mashed potatoes, and some mac and cheese from their hot bar. Boiled (yes, boiled!) some corn and carrots. This is pretty scaled down for us and I would normally turn my nose up at premade mashed potatoes but I admit it was a perfectly fine, stress-free Christmas Eve dinner! We are eating leftovers for lunch today with homemade kimchi.