Christmas Dinner: Oh What to Do?

Christmas is fast approaching and right now I'm sure most of us are thinking about all those gifts we still need to purchase, but somewhere in the back of your brain is a little person screaming "What will we do for dinner." Or perhaps that little person has now taken over your brain and all you can think about is Christmas dinner.

Well relax, Christmas dinner isn't as important as a lot of people make it out to be, in fact, it is my believe the Christmas Eve dinner is far more important. Christmas morning is filled with the excitement and joy of open gifts from Santa, mom, dad, and others, then the day is filled with experimenting and playing with all the new toys, or girls trying on the new clothes. By the time dinner comes most people's anticipation has started to dwindle so Christmas dinner is a way to relax and talk about how much they've enjoyed each of the new toys they've received. That is way I prepare the following, which is a very simple Christmas dinner.

1st Course: Soup

I always start my family off with a bowl of ham and bean soup that I make with Christmas Eve's leftover's, it's really easy and doesn't require too make attention from me during the day, here is the recipe.

Leftover Ham, including the bone

2 c of beans (normally great northern)

½ tsp of Liquid smoke

Salt and pepper to taste

After Christmas Eve dinner I put the ham in the crock pot and add enough water to cover it. Then cook it on low overnight. I pull the ham out before breakfast to let it cool. After breakfast and present opening I then cut off all the meat and put it back in the crock pot and add the beans, liquid smoke and salt and pepper. Then I add enough water to cover the beans by about an inch. Then I just keep an eye on it throughout the day and make sure it has enough water (sometimes I have to add another cup.) Then at dinner I serve it with in a bowl with 3-4 saltine crackers.

2nd Course: Main Meal

For the main course I normally serve chicken with potatoes and vegetables

Chicken

1 full bird

2 Tbs dry bbq seasoning

I take the bird and place it in a roasting dish and sprinkle the seasoning over it. Then I let it cook for 90 minutes until a little crisp on the outside.

To serve I cut it up like I would a turkey and place it on a platter to go to the table.

Mashed Potatoes

5 potatoes, cut in about 1 inch slices

½ cube of butter

1 c sour cream

1 dry ranch dip mix

I usually boil the potatoes on high for 30 minutes and then drain them. I then add the butter, sour cream and ranch mix and mash them. To serve I usually sprinkle a little parsley of paprika on top to add color.

For the Vegetable I also just heat up some frozen corn, throw it in a bowl and slice a little butter over it to make it shine.

After we have eaten dinner we normally sit down and write some thank you notes to people for the gifts we received. After we have finished we settle down for desert.

3rd Course: Desert

My favorite thing to have for desert on Christmas has always been hot chocolate and cookies. My mom used to give us a canister of cookies every year and then make hot cocoa for us. We didn't have a fire so we normally just drank it on the coach together and it has become one of my children's favorite Christmas traditions as well.