Christmas Dinner Recipes to Impress the Family

Christmas is just a few short weeks away and before you know it the doorbell will be ringing with the announcement of grandma, grandpa, aunt Frieda, and uncle Bob and everyone else's arrival. But be warned you better start planning now. If you want to be the envy of all with that perfectly prepared Christ dinner then you better start thinking about early and getting the plans set out. Now I can't help you with seating arrangements because I don't know that uncle Bob offended Frieda last year by burping so you need to split them up, but I can help you with the cooking.

The first step in the perfect Christmas Dinner is the selection of food. You need to decide what you want to serve. Traditionally turkey has always been served on Thanksgiving and ham on Christmas but because of the economic strain you might choose to go with turkey. We always have ham and because not many are come we will be sticking to ham. For the sides we will be serving mashed potatoes, which we rarely have a meal without, corn and jellied cranberries.

The ham is relative simple to create. I always go with a spiral-slice honey-glaze ham. This ham is already pre-sliced and comes with a package to make honey glaze. I just follow the instructions on how to cook the ham and make the glaze, with one small difference. I only glaze the ham twice and leave the rest for later.

While the ham is cooking I then start to wash and cut up the potatoes. I just slice the potatoes into ½-¾ in. slices and then throw them in the pot to boil. Once that is going I relax with the family for a few minutes, until the potatoes start to get soft (25-30 minutes.) Then I pull out another pan and throw in some frozen corn, sprinkled with pepper and salt.

To make the mashed potatoes I drain the water and then add enough sour cream to make them creamy, about ½ cup of American cheese, shredded and some salt and pepper. While I am mashing those I keep an eye on the corn stirring it as needed. Then I put the mashed potatoes in a serving bowl and garnish it with a little fresh parsley on top.

The corn I put into a bowl that is lined with lettuce to add more color. The ham I then cut the slices off and lay them on the platter. To garnish I drizzle the leftover glaze over it. The food is then ready to be served. Enjoy!