Christmas Eve is the big night in our family, so that's when we have the big dinner (Norwegian meatballs, scalloped or mashed potatoes, lefse, salads) and then the next day it's something smallish. I mean, we're stuffed!

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

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Usually chicken and dumplings, though vegetarianized.

What does this even mean?

LOL

I do a beef tenderloin with a variety of different "steakhouse" style sides, which change every year. I also do a special dessert--cranberry cake, cranberry cheesecake, pavlova, etc. Serve it with a really good vintage red wine, which is my favorite part of the meal. Christmas Day is when we do something easy--apps, fondue, etc.

We've never done dinner on XMAS Eve. My mom was a nurse and usually had to work then so she would have off on XMAS Day. I think we've ordered pizza or even Chinese before that night for dinner.

Anonymous wrote:Usually chicken and dumplings, though vegetarianized.

What does this even mean?

Lasagne here too! With salad and nice fresh bread. Wine.

Our family tradition was always to do pizza on Christmas Eve.

Anonymous wrote:We do Mexican food & margaritas before midnight mass (but I'm from Texas)! I do a big traditional dinner (prime rib, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, etc) on Christmas Day so it's nice to have something different Christmas Eve.

We either had Mexican for Christmas Eve or Christmas dinner depending on how the majority ruled. It's a tradition that started when we lived in TX.

Now it's up to my son to decide since it's his birthday.

Appetizers. The kids love getting a meal of finger foods, and we can easily graze throughout the night.

Pp here. Green bean fish should be green bean DISH.

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.

We always do spaghetti and salad for Christmas Eve - easy to do ahead and easy to stretch for a crowd, or just do for immediate family depending on who is joining us.

We are Mexican-American so we always have tamales for dinner on Christmas Eve followed by Mexican hot chocolate and Christmas carols. I've tried to carry this tradition on with my kids and they love it. It is a very special meal but different from the roast/mashed potatoes/etc we do for Christmas dinner.

Fondue - cheese and then chocolate.