The couple of weeks before Christmas are spent making cinnamon spice ornaments and homemade Christmas cookies (3 different kinds).
Christmas Eve day, I usually try to play Christmas movies and music all day instead of just letting kids watch cartoons and play video games. Christmas Eve dinner is just "whatever", depending on what kind of day we've had. After dinner, we allow the children to open 2 presents (with 5 children, we allow 2 small gifts - 1 from the girls & 1 from the boys).
Christmas morning, we do "Santa" stuff first; then Mom & Dad presents. Thank goodness my kids are not real "big" breakfast eaters...with all 7 of us opening presents, it takes quite a while! Then I make waffles/pancakes, hash browns, eggs and bacon for a brunch about 11:00am.
Then we spend about an hour on the phone with my mom, dad and sisters talking about what everyone got for Christmas. And, of course, the kids are playing with their toys and/or trying on clothes.
The main Christmas meal is usually served between 4:30 and 5:30pm (what with eating late brunch and snacks from the stocking and traditional Christmas cookies, who needs more than 2 large meals in one day?). I cook a large turkey (about 20 lbs), candied yams, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, rolls or homemade bread, corn pudding, sweet potato pie, chocolate pie. And of course, I can't forget to serve cranberry sauce with the meal.
Merry Christmas to everyone!
__________________
Charlene, mother to five
When God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window.
Just wondering if you make your own cranberry sauce ....my sister made her own once with Grand Marnier added to the fresh cranberries and my brother-in-law, on my husband's side, makes one every year at Thanksgiving...it's not as sweet as a canned one and is so flavorful...I think I might try making one this year also, although we don't cook our turkey dinner until New year's Day... the recipes I've seen look to be so easy...so, why not???.....just wondering if you or anyone else has a favorite one I should try...thx.
I also want to wish everyone here a very safe and wonderful Christmas.
About 25 years ago I had a cast on my arm so we had pizza for Christmas Eve and ate the leftover pizza Christmas day. It has become a tradition!
We always have cherry pie and cheesecake, even if they must be bought at the bakery.
I've served the traditional ham, potatoes/gravy, fruit salad, corn, and relish dishes but everyone preferes the lazy leftover pizza Christmas day dinner more.
We get 2 pizzas loaded with everything, a cheese pizza, 2 pepperoni pizzas and a vegetarian pizza loaded with everything.
Christmas morning is french toast after stockings before presents.
One present for each child is opened on Christmas eve, pj's or a new friend to sleep with.
Nope, sorry...I don't make my own Cranberry sauce. In fact, I don't even like the whole cranberry-style sauce; we just buy it in the can. With everything else I do, I'm lucky to get that much done....lol
__________________
Charlene, mother to five
When God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window.
When we were growing up we had a huge brunch of scrambled eggs, bacon or sausage, pancakes, orange juice or milk for Christmas morning. But, this year we are doing a combo thing since my sister and I both have different traditions that we will be combining for X-mas morn...
This year my dd is opening up her gifts on X-mas eve and X-mas morning. The reason is because she gets alot more than her cousins, so she will open up all the gifts under the tree and then Santa will bring her more, the exact amount as her cousins so it's all equal. So, we're having homemade cinnamon rolls and orange juice for X-mas Eve morning.
X-mas eve night we'll be at my sister's house and we'll have hot wings for the adults and wing dings for the kiddies and country fries. We're having homemade cookies, egg nog, and fruit cake as well.
Christmas Breakfast will be my homemade banana nut bread, fried apples, and my sister is making a wreath out of crossiants stuffed with eggs, bacon and cheese.
Dinner will be over my sister's friends house...she is British and so we're having a traditional English X-mas dinner...I know for sure we're having some kind of flaming cake, mince pies and a Turkey etc. Should be interesting...
I love to cook but want to relax like everyone else on the holidays so I cook ahead of time. On Christmas Eve I'll make homemade muffins and coffeecake for breakfast; then all I have to do in the morning is turn on the hot water for hot cocoa, hot apple cider and I even prefill the coffee pot so all I do is turn it on Christmas morning and breakfast is served!
For the main meal I have cooked and already sliced ham , swiss and cheddar cheese, pickles, and a variety of buns and breads. About three days before Christmas I prepare celery seed coleslaw (it needs several days for the flavors to combine). Two days before Christmas I make mayonnaise potato salad. Christmas morning I put baked beans in the crockpot early and my whole Christmas meal is prepared and I don't have to spend the day in the kitchen cooking! We don't have a sit down lunch as everybody is snacking on muffins and coffeecake and all that homemade candy and cookies!
Past Christmas's I also prepared a huge pot of chili and homemade chicken noodle soup to go with the ham sandwiches and all the other goodies. Both the chili and the chicken soup I prepared the day before and just put on the stove on low to warm up all morning while the Christmas morning gift opening was going on.
As you can see you can make a huge meal and NOT cook the day of Christmas so you can enjoy it also! Good Luck! If you want any of my muffin recipes just let me know!
We never have anything special for Christmas Eve actually generally just snack our way thro' it. With Sparkling Apple Juice/Eggnog simple sandwiches, chips/dip, cookies and fudge if I have it.
Christmas Day Turkey and Dressing both inside the bird and outside in a pan, Mashed Potatoes and gravy, Sweet Potato concoction, Several green things, Brussel Sprouts, Green Peas (the LeSeur ones), Green Beans, Cranberry Sauce, Rolls, and drink of choice. Most likely there will be other veggies as I love my veggies and to satisfy all who are eating.
__________________
Thought for the Day If you didn't start your day with a smile, its not too late to start practicing for tomorrow.~~~God Bless All
I need to start thinking about our Christmas Day meal, so I can have the ingredients on hand.
Until last year we had traveled to see my family on Christmas so I was "off the hook" for cooking. I appreciate that my mom has moved our family celebration to another day since this means we can spend Christmas enjoying the day and not sitting in traffic on some highway!
But last Christmas was a mess. I had one meal planned for us and DH's parents. Then on Christmas Eve, after dinner, he invited a family of 4 (3 teenagers) to join us--they said yes. I had to quick come up with another menu and defrost the proper amount. After I had passed the "point of no return" in meal planning and prep the next morning, that family called his mom and canceled. I had enough food for an army and no army to eat it.
Anyway, enough of that. It will be just us, or DH's parents joining us.
On Christmas, do you serve a fancy meal, or do you just relax and serve an easy meal? I want to make it special.
I love to cook but want to relax like everyone else on the holidays so I cook ahead of time. On Christmas Eve I'll make homemade muffins and coffeecake for breakfast; then all I have to do in the morning is turn on the hot water for hot cocoa, hot apple cider and I even prefill the coffee pot so all I do is turn it on Christmas morning and breakfast is served!
I had enough food for an army and no army to eat it.
