December 3, 2020

CHRISTMAS DINNER: How-To for Traditional

Celebrate in style with our traditional holiday feast – follow along for a menu, recipes, and ideas.

Our Christmas Dinner menu is perfect for Christmas Day or Christmas Eve. We’ve spent years celebrating Christmas Eve with extended family, so our big Christmas Dinner at home was always on Christmas proper.

This year is a little different, and it looks like we’re going to make our own, new tradition on Christmas Eve. We’re thinking about going casual. Soup and Sandwiches – but with an Erieland Specialty Sandwich: Ox Roast. (Spoiler alert: it’s really beef) and a fabulous Crab Soup.

Christmas Day we’ll get up late, nosh on some cinnamon rolls and look forward to this beautiful menu all day.

We don’t eat ham often.

And I’m not sure why. It’s absolutely delish, and crazy simple. Plus, it usually works for multiple meals around here. Leftovers are hot ham and cheese sliders that I make in a big batch, foil wrapped style, and heat until the cheese is ooey and gooey.

Start Christmas Dinner with a cocktail concoction.

Cranberry Vodka Punch

Course: Drinks

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Cranberry Vodka Punch

Prep Time: 5

Refigerate: 1

Servings: Pitcher

The spirit of the Christmas Holiday Season in a glass!

Print Recipe

Ingredients

4 cups Chilled Cranberry Juice Cocktail
2 cups Chilled OJ
2 cups Vodka, plain
2 tbsp Sugar
2 tbsp Grand Marnier or other orange liquer Triple Sec works too
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg
Fresh Cranberries (for Garnish)

Instructions

Combine all drink ingredients in large pitcher or punch bowl. Stir well. Allow to refrigerate at least two hours for flavors to blend.
Serve in glasses over ice. Float cranberries in glasses.

Notes

This Punch recipe was originally published in Epicurious. I don’t know when – it’s been a family favorite for at least 20 years.

I make up a big pitcher of these beauties and leave them in the fridge so anyone with any interest can serve their own. Set out some glasses and ice to get the whole ball rolling.

If you’re not a fan of Vodka, Cranberry Margaritas make an awesome addition instead. The two drinks looks very similar – we serve the Margaritas with a sugared rim though.

Cranberry Margarita in sugar rimmed glass

Champagne works too. It IS a celebration.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Dessert tonight is special, just like the day. We serve a Baby Jesus Birthday Cake to help remind everyone what this day is really about. The youngest person at the table gets to blow out the candle after we sing Happy Birthday.

I always go with a white cake, although I could not tell you why. Any cake will do – go all out and make the cake listed below (it starts with a boxed cake mix – yippee!) or go ahead and grab a square cake from the freezer section at the grocery store. (The Coconut Pepperidge Farms cakes are delish.) If you have multiples, or a lot of people that want to blow out the candles, serve cupcakes. Individual cake is always in style.

Keeping with a simple theme, we have the Caramel Apple Cream Cheese Dip and go all out and make a Cheesy Garlic Roll Christmas Tree. Both are substantially helped out with store bought items. The Caramel is from a jar, and the rolls start out as canned biscuits. Don’t tell anyone.

Caramel Apple Cream Cheese Dip ready to eat — _{Decorate the dip with a sprig of holly or fir.}

Baked Christmas Tree Cheesy Garlic Rolls — _{Sure. It looks a little like the Staypuff Marshmallow Man. But Tasty.}

The Italian Green Beans are a holiday special here – they ARE red and green, so they go with the theme.

green beans, red peppers and onions in a casserole covered in parmesan cheese — _{These aren’t as pretty once they’re cooked – but they’re twice as delish.}

And my personal favorite side of all time, Scalloped Onions. Nope – that’s not a mistake. Scalloped ONIONS. They are decadent, creamy and indulgent. They go great with beef too, but with the slightly sweet ham, they rock.

Creamy Scalloped Onions caramelizing after cooking 90 minutes

Man. Now I’m starved.

CHRISTMAS DINNER

RECIPE LINKS

CARAMEL APPLE CREAM CHEESE DIP

CHEESY GARLIC ROLL CHRISTMAS TREE

HONEY GLAZED BAKED HAM

ITALIAN GREEN BEANS

SLOW ROASTED ROSEMARY POTATOES

SCALLOPED ONIONS

HONEY MUSTARD

HORSERADISH SAUCE

BABY JESUS BIRTHDAY CAKE (COCONUT)

The How-to for the ham is from the Kitchn. I found the Roasted Potatoes on Recipe Diaries, and the Coconut Cake is from Life Out Loud.

Notes on Christmas Dinner Prep

We have one oven. If you have more than that, feel free to skip this section. We’re going to cook everything in the oven at the same temp by varying the recipe to the temp we’re using and staggering the start time. Makes sense? Good! Here we go.

Oven Temp – 350 Degrees F

HAM	2- 2.25 HOURS
ONIONS	1.75 HOURS
POTATOES	.75 HOURS
GREEN BEANS	.75 HOURS
ROLLS	BAKE WHILE HAM IS RESTING

_{So if you want to eat at 5, put the ham in at 2:45, the onions in at 3:15, and the spuds and the beans in at 4:15. Prep the rolls at 4:30 and crank the oven to 400 degrees once the ham is out.}

Table Decor

I like to stick with the red and green theme, but mix it up with the table linens, napkins and centerpiece rather than the dishes. USUALLY.

Christmas Plates are gorgeous, no doubt about it. They are also ridiculously impractical. That’s a lot of storage for plates that get used once a year. If you are jonesing for decorative plates, go for red ones. I bought these plates a couple of years ago (at TJ Maxx!) because they’re so beautiful (plus I adore red). So keep an eye out if you’re a Maxxinista, or check them out at Amazon. (Affiliate links follow. See Disclaimer Page for details.)

Turns out they are also super flexible: I use them for Christmas Dinner, naturally, but I also use them for Valentines Dinner with a white tablecloth, all the Red/White & Blue Holidays during the summer with a blue tablecloth (or something with stars on it), and at Thanksgiving with a gold tablecloth.

I finally bought a pretty green tablecloth a few years ago, and that’s pretty versatile too – Christmas Dinner, obviously, but it’s perfect for Saint Patrick’s Day and Easter too.

The red plates look great with white table linens too. Make it special by adding some gold or brass accents. There’s always a place for a gold charger on the table!

As always, I’d recommend plenty of candles. White ones lend themselves to being used again once the holidays are over, but red and/or green are great too. If you have any ornaments laying around, toss them (gently, of course) across the table too. Festive and simple.