Christmas Dinner

[Sheilbh]

What should a good Christmas dinner have in your opinion/family traditions?  I'm curious especially to see international ones.  Pedrito seems like a man who enjoys his food so what's an Italian gourmand's Christmas look like, for example.

For me:
Roast bird turkey/goose
Roast ham
Roast potatoes
Roast sweet potatoes
Roast parsnips
Roast squash
Mashed potatoes
Mashed carrots and turnip
Sprouts (ideally with butter and bacon)
Stuffing
Pigs in blankets
Cranberry sauce
Bread sauce
Two gravies

I don't really care about dessert but I do love Christmas pudding and brandy cream

[Brazen]

I did buy pork loin to roast, but my consultant chef deemed it insufficiently Christmassy so he cooked it last night. Turned out to be pretty much the best roast dinner I've ever had, so I wish I'd saved it 

Going for a leg of lamb with roasties, cabbage and carrots instead.

[Josephus]

We've Canadianized ourselves over the years, so turkey and all the trimmings including that nasty cranberry sauce.

My mother, though, as an appetizer, cooks up a Sicilian/Maltese dish called Timpana, which is a baked macaroni pie. Alas, this wonderful meal will die with her, as none of my sisters can be arsed.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=26959

[Brazen]

We've Canadianized ourselves over the years, so turkey and all the trimmings including that nasty cranberry sauce.

My mother, though, as an appetizer, cooks up a Sicilian/Maltese dish called Timpana, which is a baked macaroni pie. Alas, this wonderful meal will die with her, as none of my sisters can be arsed.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=26959

Interetsing, that's very similar to the Greek dish Pastitio (which must have the greatest calorie density of any pasta dish on earth).

[Grey Fox]

Let's see my dad is making a full fledged Traditional dinner with turkey, tourtiere,  ragout & that marvelous cranberry sauce.

My girlfriend's parent are going crazy & making Americanized Chinese.

My aunt is making her traditional dinner with turkey, tourtiere, coleslaw & boiled potatoes. Oh & that marvelous cranberry sauce.

I love me a good christmas.

[Ed Anger]

Ham
Mashed Potatoes
Mac n' Cheese (and not that shit from a box)
Dumplings
Some sort of vegetable like Green Beans that I won't eat
Dinner rolls
Deviled eggs

Various pies (pecan, apple, pumpkin, cherry)
Banana pudding

[Martinus]

In Poland, in my part of the country,  the biggest meal of Christmas is normally the Christmas eve's dinner, not the Christmas one (the latter is also practiced, and usually involves some kind of poultry, but is not as "iconic"). There is a number of cool traditions/customs associated with the Christmas Eve's Dinner, that are not purely religious (i.e. they are usually practiced even by non-religious people, like my family, even though some of them clearly have roots in Christianity).

They ones we follow in my family (I suppose they differ from a region to a region, and often from a house to a house, since people get around a lot and bring their customs with them):

- The table should always include one extra plate/cutlery set than the number of invited guests. This is for the "stranger" - representing either an unexpected guest who may come by, or, collectively, dead relatives or the like.

- There should be a handful of hay under the table cloth - this represents the manger in which Jesus was born. There is an "augury" associated with that, which involves people drawing straws - whoever gets the longest straw, will live the longest. Most supermarket chains these days sell special "Christmas hay".

- The dinner should not start before the first star becomes visible in the sky (obviously, this is less observed when the sky is overcast ) - obviously, a reference to the Bethlehem star.

- The first part of the dinner is the sharing of the Christmas wafer. This is like a communion wafer, only baked in larger rectangular shapes and usually "embossed" with some Christmas-related scenes, like nativity or the Christmas tree or something. I think the church used to control their production but now since people don't care anymore whether it is "blessed" or not, you can get them from supermarkets too. Family members share it between themselves, while wishing each other all the best etc. in the coming year.

- The dinner should have 12 dishes (since we don't want to overeat - and there are only 4 of us - my parents, my aunt and myself, we cheat by counting stuff like side salads or potatoes as separate "dishes" ) to represent 12 months, 12 Apostles and generally all other stuff that counts in twelves).

The "must have" dishes include (again this is my family's traditions - I know people replace beet root soup with mushroom soup in other parts of the country etc.):

- clear beetroot soup (called borscht, but it is quite different than the Russian/Ukrainian soup, not having cream in it for starters) with small pierogi (similar to ravioli, if you are familiar with Italian cuisine, only stuffed with mushrooms and sauerkraut filling),
- carp (for some reason carp is the Polish fish of choice when it comes to Christmas) - the must have is the pan-fried or roasted carp, but usually you also get gefilte fish and the "Jewish style carp" (which is cold carp in gelatine, with vegetables, almonds and raisins),
- some kind of desert involving poppy seed (either poppy seed cake or a sort of poppy-seed-and-honey based "Turkish delight" style mix),
- fruit compote (usually made from dried prunes).

It is also customary to get all kinds of other fish, like salmon (smoked and/or fried), trout, herring (usually salted, in a herring salad) etc.

After the dinner presents are distributed (they have been previously placed under the Christmas tree - no stockings here). When I was a kid we used to sing carols sometimes, but we don't bother anymore.

At midnight, animals (including family pets) are supposed to talk with human voice. Never happened. I blame poppy seed and eggnog.

[Monoriu]

I believe in the contrarian approach.  When it is Christmas time, I have Chinese.  When it is Chinese new year, I have western food, or Indian.  When it is Valentine's day, we cook at home.  This way, we avoid the overpriced stuff.

[Caliga]

On a related note, I've decided that I want a Christmas pudding this year.  Which means I'm going to have to make the damn thing myself and won't be able to age it properly. 

[The Larch]

I don't know if my aunt will make something special, but our big Christmas eve dinner menu, for the 10 of us (My two grandmothers, my uncles, my two cousins from my father's side of the family, my parents, my brother and me) that gather for the occasion, is usually consisting in:

- Appetizers: Home made seafood paté, Iberian cold cuts, cheese and as much seafood as they can cram in the table, mostly scampi.
- Main dish of roasted lamb and/or stuffed veal.
- Turrón as far as the eye can see.

Wine for the dinner and champagne for toasting afterwards. Christmas day lunch will be a similar combination.

[Brazen]

Oh man, this thread has just reminded me I have to find an Italian deli to get Dad some panforte 

[katmai]

Friends are having a x-mas dinner tonight of Prime Rib. As for actual 25th, no idea what i'll make, maybe some carnitas, maybe a ham and Mac&Cheese.

[Sheilbh]

My mother, though, as an appetizer, cooks up a Sicilian/Maltese dish called Timpana, which is a baked macaroni pie. Alas, this wonderful meal will die with her, as none of my sisters can be arsed.

I make a lovely sweet-savoury sausage timpana

[Barrister]

Last night was pyrogy-making night.  Or rather, it was my wife's pyrogy making night - I made supper (hamburgers) and helped clean up.

For Christmas Day we'll be having turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, caesar salad () and pie.  I'll probably be making the turkey.

My tourtiere on Christmas Eve was nixed - our roommate wanted to make her 'traditional' Christmas Eve dinner.  It turns out she's making lasagna. WTF - she's Ojibway, and her traditional Christmas Eve dinner is lasagna?

I offered to make holoptsi, another Barrister Christmas fave, but everyone else said 'no thanks'.

[Syt]

My family has a tradition of stuffed turkey (usual stuffing: 50% toast bread mixed with beef broth, 50% bratwurst filler), with potatoes, red cabbage (with wine and apples) and gravy.

The friends' family I spend christmas with tomorrow have a cheese fondue tradition.

Goose is the "classical" christmas dinner in Germany and Austria, though you'll find many families who deviate from that.

Christmas Eve is the central date for Christmas in Germany/Austria, when people get together for nice dinner, presents are exchanged (or St. Nick pays a visit in non-Austria) and just spend a pleasant time together.

First and Second Christmas days (25th/26th) are usually for visiting other parts of the family for a somewhat fancy lunch (good roast or whatever is that person's specialty, usually traditional German/Austrian dishes, so no lasagna, for example).

Me, I tried making a vindaloo for myself last year for 25th - it failed spectacularly. I followed the recipe to the letter, but though the recipe warned that the result would be "hot and spicy" it was rather bland and mild. I'll go with a ready made paste from an Indian supermarket down the street this year.

On the 25th and in the evening I'll probably go out with friends.

The good thing about christmas this year: 4 day weekend. The bad thing about christmas this year: 4 day weekend.

The 24th is a half working day (though our company gives us the whole day off), meaning most shops/supermarkets close at 2 pm. 25th and 26th are like sundays (and the 27th is an actual sunday), meaning all shops and supermarkets and just about everything else is closed in Germany and Austria (with the exception of e.g. supermarkets at large railway stations, two of which I have fortunately nearby in case I forgot anything).