I am going to share one of my family’s favorite Christmas traditions with you- and it will probably become your favorite, too! When I was a young mom and wanted to make absolutely everything so fun for my kids, I used to do a “Journey to Bethlehem” dinner with olives, ripped up pita bread, grape juice, nuts, rotisserie chicken, etc… I loved it! I placed the food in brown paper bags that had been rolled down to look more like a bowl. We served dinner by candle light. I didn’t have to cook, we were being traditional, and my kids could get a greater appreciation for history. Only downside, my kids HATED it! So, we had to come up with a new Christmas Eve dinner tradition.
That’s when we started getting everyone’s favorite take-out foods. Our family would make a list of our favorite restaurant foods. We would narrow down the list. We would then go to different restaurants (within reason) and order a few servings of our family’s favorite food. It really helps when you have a teenager or an extra adult driver to go to the different restaurants. I love how easy this is and everyone ends up happy at the end! Because we get EVERYONE’S favorites foods!! Of course, I’m not going to make everyone’s favorite meals in the kitchen. So this is a great alternative.
We go to the restaurants in the morning or early afternoon of Christmas Eve. We are usually ready to start eating around 5- 5:30ish. Of course, we heat up any food that needs to be eaten warm.
This is last year’s Christmas Eve dinner with many of our favorite dishes. We had ribs, rolls, chips and guacamole (must-have!), sweet and sour chicken, rice and curry, sticky rice with mango, and many others. We always end up with a great variety and have plenty of leftovers for lunch on Christmas- which everyone loves!
I love that I get a break from cooking (until Christmas, when we do our traditional Christmas dinner and baking!) and that everyone ends up so full and happy! It is so easy and everyone looks forward to it each year. This is one of our family faves and I know it will always be one of our all-time top traditions. I hope your family loves it as much as we do!
What whacky foods would your family favorites Christmas Eve dinner include?
Carol says
Looks good. We usually make pasta or tacos or steak, or just. Sandwiches and chips. Nothing fancy.
Merry Christmas.
Toni - Design Dazzle says
Carol – your dinner sounds fun! It’s nice to have traditions! Merry Christmas to you too!!
Sue says
That sounds great, but the only restaurant in our area will be closed for the entire weekend. We’ll have canned chili and homemade cinnamon rolls!
Toni - Design Dazzle says
Oh darn. Maybe next year get the food earlier and re-heat for Christmas Eve.
Kelly says
We do a charcuterie board and dips. No cooking, just putting it all out. For New Years Eve, we use our air fryer and have appetizers all evening. Taquitos, chicken stripes, egg rolls, pizza rolls etc. It’s so easy and yummy and keeps the food coming for hours of our New Years Eve fun!
Toni - Design Dazzle says
Sounds fabulous!