For weeks now, we've been talking non-stop about Christmas cookies, special meals for Christmas and Hannukah, edible gifts, and setting a festive holiday table. And now the holidays are actually here! What do you have planned?
My parents will be visiting this year, making this the first Christmas that they come to me instead of the other way around! Our plans, as always, revolve around food.
My mother has requested a cookie-making session and I am more than happy to oblige. Meanwhile, my father has his sights set on a batch of homemade ciabatta, which will go perfectly with the big pot of pork ragu I have planned for Christmas Eve dinner. Then on Christmas morning, I'll be making a version of Elizabeth's cream cheese braids.
And then...lounging. Lots and lots of lounging. It's been a busy year and I'm happy to have a few days to just sit with my family, eat good food, and catch up on a pile of books.
How are your plans shaping up?
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Dinner at my mom's house with my sisters and their families next Friday with the traditional meal of Italian sausage, coldcuts and cheeses. Christmas Eve will be spent at my in-laws eating their traditional meal of sauerbraten and potato latkes. Christmas morning/day will be cozily spent with hubby and daughter. She is almost 4 and really *gets* what Christmas is all about this year so it should be fun. Meals will be creme brulee french toast and breakfast sausage and dinner will be a baked country ham. In so far as activities are concerned, just doing a whole lot of nothing on the day of and the week in between Christmas and New Years. I took that week off of work to energize myself ahead of the new year ahead.
My family moved from the States to Spain in 1986, and now my sister and I still live here, so every year I make us a traditional Christmas lunch, with turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, the works! So we can remember our home
Our latest batch of homebrewed beer will be ready to drink on the 24th, so I think my partner and I will be cracking open some beer and having a quiet night at home.
My parents are coming into town Christmas Day and I want to make some sort of nice dinner for them but haven't actually planned that yet. We keep the holidays pretty low-key around here.
I'm hoping to spend NYE with friends but again, haven't actually made plans yet. Story of my life!
For Christmas Eve I make lasagna with homemade pasta. For Christmas breakfast we make pancake omelets (sub pancake batter instead of egg and add syrup--delish!!). For Christmas lunch/dinner every year, I make something I've never tried before. Up this year (so far) is cheddar and beer soup, and risotto. Have not decided on the entree yet...
Turning out the lights, moving cars out of the driveway and pretending we're not home so we can spend the day w/our kids, snuggled up watching every movie in our collection!!
...thanks for making me smile keltrue! I'm excited to have the hubs with me this year -he's my Christmas spirit. I'm making orange marmalade rolls from the Pioneer Woman on Tues night and we're planning to open most of our gifts here the next day, before heading north to spend the holiday weekend with his family; I'll be cooking a turkey and pumpkin pie... Maybe next year I'll try to roast a goose...?
I'm hosting Orphan Christmas for myself and any friends whose family is far away. I'll make a spread of make-ahead snacks and desserts and drinks, and we'll lounge around in PJs and watch movies.
My boyfriend and I have been together for about 3 1/2 years, but this will be our first Xmas with just the two of us at home. I'm going to make a breakfast strata in the morning (after we open presents, of course!), then we'll probably take a long walk. Dinner will be turkey, stuffing, roasted potatoes (his request), green beans, and maybe another veg. Dessert will be Sticky Toffee Pudding and a homemade fruit cake; he's a Brit, so he's got to have his pudding and fruit cake!
We're following one old family tradition, and one relatively new one this year. My maternal grandmother has been serving fish soup on Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember. And beginning last year, my now-husband and I convinced our families that one big potluck Christmas dinner made much more sense; my mom's hosting it this time, but everyone will be contributing something to round out the turkey and stuffing.
I've been drafted to provide desserts for both meals - I know that on Christmas day, it will be an apple pie with dulce de leche, but I'm still playing with different ideas for Christmas Eve!
We're following one old family tradition, and one relatively new one this year. My maternal grandmother has been serving fish soup on Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember. And beginning last year, my now-husband and I convinced our families that one big potluck Christmas dinner made much more sense; my mom's hosting it this time, but everyone will be contributing something to round out the turkey and stuffing.
I've been drafted to provide desserts for both meals - I know that on Christmas day, it will be an apple pie with dulce de leche, but I'm still playing with different ideas for Christmas Eve!
We'll spend Christmas Eve, which is also my MIL's birthday celebration with The Fella's family (I'm bringing pumpkin gingerbread), then Christmas dinner with the local members of my family (I'm bringing butternut squash galette with roasted garlic & sage).
Then on Boxing Day, we're staying home and having our Christmas for the two of us: making fondue, swapping gifts, and snuggling on the sofa! Happy holidays, everyone!
Christmas Eve, the family and I will be going to see a holiday train display put on by our local electric company and then doing our annual holiday tradition of catching a movie in the theaters and then dinner is usually finger foods while unwrapping presents. Christmas day I have to work, but I'll be going to my parent's house to eat dinner and using their wireless to work remotely.