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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Poll: Christmas Dinner
So, apparently I'm hosting the in-laws for Christmas this year. 
I haven't decided what I want to have for Christmas dinner. I think turkey and/or ham are popular, but I think I want to do something different.
What does your family do for dinner? What are you planning to have this year?
Re: Poll: Christmas Dinner
We are traditional w/ the Ham and Turkey.
However a friend of mine always has Enchiladas. I always thought that was cool.
You could do a Turduckin. LOL! That sure would switch things up.
That turducken this is way over the top! Can't remember where I saw it, but they also have something like that (turkey, duck, chicken) inside a pig! Yikes!
In my family we usually have turkey at Thanksgiving and personally, I don't love it enough to eat it again at Christmas...I usually do a standing rib roast or sometimes a rack of lamb as the protein for Christmas dinner.
~Planning Bio ~ Married Bio ~ Blissful In Michigan~
Well let me preface this with the statement that my Mom can be a bit "over the top"..
That being said she actually gets physically upset if ham is not served at Christmas. It is just plain bizarre. She is ALL about tradition (how I got away with a destination wedding I will never know). Apparently in my family my grandmother used to serve ham so she has it in her head that ham MUST be served for it to be Christmas. I HATE ham. If I had to host I would probably serve some for her just to avoid drama.
I tell this long tale to then ask..is your family very traditional? Will they expect certain things?
I love ham!!!!! haha! But I don't know if that's what I want to serve this year.
I'm not really sure what the IL's usually have for Christmas, but I'm guessing it's either turkey or ham. Since they've decided Christmas is at our house, I think I'M going to decide that we're doing something totally different. They can take it or lump it!
Baked ziti sounds great! I was actually thinking something along the lines of italian, but couldn't think of anything other than lasagna. I can make that pretty easily and then just ask them to bring sides and some appetizers.
My family also usually does turkey or ham, but last year my aunt my this amazing beef roast thing (I'm not sure which cut it was). She put it in the oven on some super high temp. like 500, cooked it for an a couple of hours that way, then turned the oven off and kept the door closed so it would keep cooking for a few more hours. Not the best plan if you need to use the oven during that time, but it came out perfect!
In the past we've also done pork tenderloin. I think it works well for the holidays (Thanksgiving or Christmas) b/c it pairs really well with fruit. So you can do an orange glaze over it or serve it with a cranberry compote. Yummy!
We do Beef. DH's parents always do a rotisserie of beef... a roast..forget the cut.
My parents usually do filet mingon. We've also had lamb...
In my family we always do prime rib for Christmas dinner. Prime rib, twice baked potatoes and broccoli/cauliflower and cheese sauce.
Whatever you go with hopefully its not too stressful for you, its no fun to be stressed out over the meal!
~Kimberly & Eric~ April 21, 2008 ~Tensing Pen ~ Negril, Jamaica ~ My Blog: One Sunset at a Time
Dad's side - traditional turkey/ham and the usual sides
Mom's side - pasta with chicken or sausage, shrimp scampi, salad
DH's side - DH's mom usually tries to mix things up for the Xmas dinner, last year we had Mexican lasagna, the year before we did homemade Chinese where we all helped to make handrolled eggrolls!
oh let's see - my mom's side - country ham, pork tenderloin with a cranberry sauce and sometimes chicken tetrazzini.
kyle's family - turkey and (city) ham
That sounds awesome! Kind of like with my ex's, we would all get together and make tamales. They were so yummy! (That's about the only thing I miss about him. lol)
Thank you! I don't know why they think I won't stress out about this even though they've "offered to cook" here. I'm going to be 35-36 weeks PG at Christmas!!!!!
DH's mom likes this dinner to be "all hands on deck" -- everyone helps out in some way. It's fun!
You should start your own tradition
Whoa, I'd be stressed out enough just hosting the dinner, but doing it at 35-36 weeks pg?? Ok, I've never been pregnant (that I know of!) but I would think that would be even more stressful and difficult. Will you take them up on their offer to cook?
When we hosted Christmas for my immediate family (parents, siblings, & nieces/nephew), I made meatloaf. It was easy and everyone loved it.
My family is more traditional and does ham and everyone brings a side.
DH family likes to do whatever they can come up with. We've done Christmas brunch with finger foods a few times.
The first year after I separated from the ex, I had my girls until 2:00 that day. I went all out and made lamb roast (so easy), flourless chocolate cake and polenta with gorgonzola (sp?) cheese. There were a few other items in there as well. I have a great sweet potato recipe that is super easy.
The girls gobbled it up (pun intended) and said they were happy not to have ham and turkey again.
Ask your in-laws but they may want something different.
You are absolutely spot on about hosting people over Christmas. And it's not just dinner, they will be staying with us which means getting the house ready before hand, meals while they're here, and then the clean up after they leave - laundry, etc. Yeah, really not too excited about having all these people over when I'm about to pop!
And to answer your question about letting them do the cooking....I think I'm too much of a control freak and also passive aggressive. I feel like I want some say in this whole situation. I wasn't even asked if I minded that everyone come over! I think this is just my way of asserting my opinion.
{Blog: Adventures of AlaskanAlison}