Our parents on both sides are deceased, as is my brother. My SIL has a large extended family and they do their own thing on holidays. So now it’s just my husband, daughter and me at the table. That in itself reduces the cooking. Also, we are all watching our carbs, so that eliminates most of the baking I used to do.
Thanksgiving– I have decided to stop making turkey. I am not a fan of the taste, and spatchcocking it, and carving it up after it’s cooked, makes my thumbs ache. If I eliminate the turkey, I can stop making the cranberry sauce too!
This November I’ll roast a boneless leg of lamb instead. We love lamb.
Easter isn’t a hard meal: rabbit braised in Chardonnay with garlic and rosemary. I grew up eating rabbit at Easter and my family loves it.
Christmas week is more work-- lots more work, since my daughter’s birthday is also that week. I still bake her a cake. Christmas Eve and Day we eat several labor-intensive seafood dishes I make with salted cod and calamari. But we love them and it’s worth the work! I grew up eating these dishes, and modified the recipes a bit.
In the past few years I’ve also started buying a Smithfield pre-cooked spiral ham, which makes for some easier meals Christmas week. I freeze some of the ham to make bean and lentils soups later.