Do we have a thread about Christmas EVE dinner?

We always have pizza. It's our tradition. Sometimes it's delivered, sometimes we make our own. Christmas is easy at our house.

We usually do something fish related. One of my favorites is this recipe from Giada. I substitute the spinach for arugula. It is very easy to make and I spend more time waiting for the water to boil for the pasta than anything else. And we usually have caeser salad with it, with homemade dressing.

www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/whole-wheat-spaghetti-with-lemon-basil-and-salmon-recipe.html


Ingredients
1/2 pound whole-wheat spaghetti pasta
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 (4-ounce) pieces salmon
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
3 tablespoons capers
1 lemon, zested
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cups fresh baby spinach leaves

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta and transfer to a large bowl. Add the garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper. Toss to combine.

Meanwhile, warm the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Season the salmon with salt and pepper. Add the fish to the pan and cook until medium-rare, about 2 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the fish. Remove the salmon from the pan.

Add the basil, capers, lemon zest, and lemon juice to the spaghetti mixture and toss to combine. Set out 4 serving plates or shallow bowls. Place 1/2 cup spinach in each bowl. Top with 1/4 of the pasta. Top each mound of pasta with a piece of salmon. Serve immediately.

Christmas Eve is our big celebration, over at my Memere and Pepere's. My Memere makes chicken stew with dumplings.

I usually do large baked potatoes with toppings (bacon, broccoli, cheese, sour cream, etc.). We usually go to a holiday light display that night, and with all the food on Christmas day I just want something that isn't super heavy or rich. 

DH and I go out with my parents for Tex-mex.

Christmas Eve is with my side of family at my mom's. We all just bring appetizers and munch, munch, munch. Always seems to be more than a regular meal though. Everyone seems to bring that one more thing... I enjoy a little bit of more things rather than more of just a couple/few.

My Christmas Eve dinner is sandwiches. I buy nice rolls, several kinds of deli meat and cheese, deli salads (macaron salad, potato salad, whatever), cut up a couple tomatoes, put mayo and mustard out, etc. Paper plates. That's it. Easy and no cooking for me. I cook the next day so one big meal is enough. Plus, dd, my sister, and I always go to church and I'm not cooking and then trying to rush there.

I host Christmas Eve every year for my side of the family. We have a kind of eclectic spread of food. Tamales, ham, my Uncle's excellent chili/beans, green salad and whatever else people decide to bring. Sometimes green bean casserole or mashed potatoes. Different breads and mustards to make sandwiches with the ham.

We started a tradition a few years ago going to a Chinese buffet. Only being able to find Chinese buffets here that serve mostly seafood dishes, we opted to just go to a Chinese restaurant and order dishes we want (i.e. paying for what we will eat, instead of paying more for stuff we won't), and share family style.

I grew up with the 7 fishes dinner on Christmas Eve, but since my husband doesn't like that, I usually make manicotti so at least I keep our meal meatless.  I make the crepes and assemble it ahead of time, so there isn't much to do that day, brandy327.  I also make a salad.

These days w/my son working at a restaurant, we eat there when his shift is over.  One of these days we'll get back to my manicotti.  I miss it.

Panda Express take-out was a big hit last year, so I think we'll make it a tradition .

Dh's side is from Sweden. Christmas Eve is - is their Christmas. More the dinner, presents, singing. St.Lucia. It's a 7 course meal. It seams like a lot but it's really not. The traditional  lutefisk (there's very few of us that eat that LOL!), small potatoes, meats, cheeses, then ham, or turkey or both. Of course Swedish Meatballs. Lots of pickled veggies. Some do the meatballs with the sauce (gravy), some don't depending on who's hosting.  The other what's considered 'old tradition' is rolling the butter. There are special wooden paddles that make patterns in the rolls of butters. I've not mastered the skill in the 16yrs we've been married. LOL but they are cool. We looked all over Stockholm and other places in Sweden when were there. It was hard to find and when we spoke a lady in an antique store she told us many don't do it anymore but it's coming back around. 
  If it's all the family together - Santa comes for the kids. Christmas Day is more of a religious holiday for them and they do more family stuff.

My family it was Christmas Eve pajamas. The PJ's were the one present we could open on Christmas Eve.

We always have Dungeness crab, green salad and garlic bread for Christmas Eve dinner.

This year we're having pigs in a blanket (stuffed cabbage), shrimp cocktail and pepperoni dip.