I did a search and didn’t see anything for holiday meals for 2020. Wondering what others are planning. I’ll start.
Christmas Eve- we will have small spread of appetizers. I’ve gotten shrimp, some nice cheeses, and we have hummus and pita. Sparkling cider or hot mulled cider. And holiday cookies which are all set.
Christmas dinner- a small prime rib roast (got it at my local small grocery and much to my surprise got almost $10 off the price by presenting my store card), roasted honey balsamic Brussels sprouts, small potatoes not sure how to cook them yet. Dessert…probably banana cream pie!
Christmas breakfast- there are usually 4 or 5 of us…and we have a nice big breakfast. But this year, it will be just the two of us. I think we will just have bacon and eggs.
Christmas Day our main meal will be ham, potatoes, green peas from our garden, butternut squash from our garden, sweet potatoes, potato rolls, cranberry sauce, Key Lime Pie, Christmas cookies, and some sort of wine that middle son brought home with him.
We do the seven fishes tradition on Xmas eve but appetizers. A stretch for us this year since it’s just the three of us! (Mostly shellfish but I think it still counts). On the menu is:
Caviar, crab rangoon, smoked salmon deviled eggs, smoked mussels, Cajun shrimp with avocado, bacon wrapped scallops, and lobster rolls.
Christmas Day we are having brioche French toast for brunch and then beef Wellington, twice baked potatoes and green beans. D also wants a charcuterie board so we will probable for that mid day depending on when we have brunch.
We have cookies, cranberry bars, and chocolate for dessert.
Christmas Dinner - My DD (vegetarian) is having cornbread stuffing and baked tofu. Everyone else is having steak, seafood (lobster tails, prawns, and crab legs), baked potatoes, and corn on the cob. Dessert is red velvet cake.
Xmas eve is at D1’s. I’m guessing ham, since she’s still a novice cook. (Oddly, most of us don’t eat a prepared ham other times of the year.)
Brunch on Xmas day is mine, but also at her place. She and SIL decorated to the max and we’ll open presents then. Because I have a Maine theme on the small gifts (if we couldn’t get there, this year, I’d bring Maine to them,) the first extra is pancakes with fresh blueberries. After that, the clementine cake from the dessert thread.
When we do a big brunch, we don’t do a planned lunch or dinner.
Since it’s just the 7 of us, I ordered some trays, mussels in white sauce, seafood salad, zuppa de pesce, stuffed artichokes, making shrimp cocktail, a baked ham (one requested it), cranberry sauce baked Brie, a big charcuterie board and flourless chocolate cake. My husband is making a modified irish breakfast Christmas morning with sausage, bacon, eggs, roasted tomatoes, mushrooms and baked beans, Christmas dinner will either be leftovers or Chinese delivery.
TYPICAL is Shrimp Scampi on Christmas Eve and a huge array of hearty appetizers for Christmas Day.
But this year is not typical.
Only my H, one daughter and myself here for Christmas Eve. I don’t know if we will do scampi but maybe another shrimp dish since I have the shrimp.
Christmas Day still a small group. We are doing a Mexican feast. I’m picking up seasoned carnita meat that I will cook and prepared salsa and queso from a local Mexican meat and grocery store. I am also going to make a yummy crockpot chicken enchilada dip that @SJ2727 shared with me! Home baked Christmas cookies for dessert.
Christmas morning: Breakfast bowls with 2 eggs each, French toast and bacon.
Christmas Dinner: Beef Tenderloin, Red mashed potatoes, Sweet potato casserole, Roasted Brussel Sprouts, 5 cheese Mac and cheese, rolls. Dessert: pecan pie and apple crisp.
We traditionally have my brothers and families over for lasagna on Christmas Eve. Because that is not going to happen this year, I am choosing not to make lasagna. Instead, I will make a skillet chicken pot pie in puff pastry … comfort food.
For Christmas Day, I ordered a small heat & eat prime rib from a local restaurant. I will thaw out the leftover Honey Baked Ham from Thanksgiving. I make amazing rolls, so we’ll have those, too. I am also going to make a pumpkin pie & brownies (S doesn’t like pie).
There will just be 3 of us, so things will be low key.
In past years, my mother and MIL would join us and my oldest D would bring home a friend from college. This year it will just be the five of us. The holiday theme is always good food, good wine, and good company.
Christmas Eve: tamales, black beans, charcuterie board, various other appetizers
Christmas Brunch: frittata, Belgian waffles w/fresh fruit and cream, breakfast sausage, mimosas, holiday punch (I like Ina Garten’s Autumn Sangria).
Christmas Dinner: Prime rib, garlic mashed potatoes, asparagus, chocolate cake
Like @mountainsoul, we will have tamales for Christmas Eve. Probably a Green salad with fresh orange segment to counter the heavy tamales.
Christmas Day we are having lasagne because it’s a different kind of holiday so not wanting the traditional meal. That’s if I can find ricotta cheese. There was something on the news the other night about all the people making lasagne as a gift to neighbors, so I hope it hasn’t become the next bread flour! Off to Sprouts to try my luck there!
For the past several years, our son has made Christmas dinner: wild mushroom soup, Beef Wellington, creamed spinach, garlic mashed potatoes. We start with champagne and an hors d’oeuvres plate. He won’t be with us this year, so we may sub the Wellington for standing rib and Yorkshire pudding.
NYE is always rack of lamb and bananas foster fireside:
Holiday meals are my jam, but I’ve been limited a little by availability of some of my ingredients. We usually make homemade tamales on Christmas eve, but alas, no fresh ground masa available. I have orders in for some king crab and other specialities for new years and it’s already been delayed (coming from NYC) but fingers crossed.
Here’s my Christmas plan (lots of baking, cooking, and warm drinks):
Christmas eve brunch will be butterscotch and pecan scones with hot coffee and kir royales. Afterwards I’ll make some sugar cookies and everyone can flood fill their favorite shapes. Dinner is chicken stew served in bread bowls with Cakebread Chardonnay. Dessert will be sitting around the fire pit with the cookies made earlier in day with hot mullled wine or apple cider.
Christmas day brunch is overnight cinnamon rolls, hot coffee and mimosas. Afterwards I’ll bake a sheet cake and everyone will pitch in to make a Buche Noel. Dinner is big: prime prime rib roast, gravy, mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, and hot rolls served with a 2015 Reynvaan Syrah. Dessert is a slice of the buche noel and a flute of Inniskillen Cabernet Franc Icewine.
Then I sleep until new years eve when the cooking begins again!
Christmas morning we do a big breakfast of creme brulee french toast, sausage cheese grits, egg casserole and pumpkin apple bread. Traditionally we’ve gone to the movies late afternoon and then eat leftover breakfast for dinner. Probably not doing the movies this year so not sure how we’ll eat the rest of the day.
One of the days just after Christmas we invite the cousins over for a really nice meal, usually something like tenderloin. But this year I’m leaning toward pasta and cheesecake.
My gosh it all sounds so delicious but make sure you get out of the kitchen some too! Some of those meals one after another are quite elaborate and must be time consuming!
We usually do rack of lamb for either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. It’s not hard and I usually stick to easy sides. DH makes waffles Christmas morning. We are considering to some take out version of seven fishes this year since the fish haters won’t be with us.
Christmas Eve is always the same here - filet mignon fondue cooked in oil, shrimp cocktail, fruit salad, homemade French Onion soup for a starter, steamed clams (if I can get good ones), and warm gingerbread cake with homemade whipped cream for dessert. Every year my kids (even now as a teen and adults) insist on Martinelli’s apple cranberry sparkling cider served in wine glasses. Typically the kids and I will split a couple of lobsters but last year my son started to have symptoms of an allergy after eating his (itching, intestinal issues). My husband has an allergy to shellfish so we will forgo the lobster this year since my son said he would be too tempted by it. He seems ok with shrimp though.
Christmas breakfast will be homemade copycat Cinnabon rolls, bacon, and sausage unless the family decides they want to switch back to french toast casserole or pancakes this year.
Christmas dinner will just be our family plus my single, retired BIL. We are having spiral ham, my DS15 is going to smoke a small prime rib roast, mashed potatoes, asparagus, sweet potato casserole, and macaroni and cheese. Copycat Texas Roadhouse rolls and Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. Dessert will be homemade cream puffs and cheesecake with cherries or praline sauce.
