Christmas Eve Ideas

We always had Seafood for Christmas Eve dinner. Is is easy to get the cooked shrimp and steam crablegs. Everyone bought a side like coleslaw, pasta salad, veggies and dip, pierogies or dessert. It was also not real heavy since the next day is and not something we had all the time. My mom's family started it and now my sister and I do it too.

We just do simple things on Christmas Eve that the little ones enjoy and the adults can relax too. We start out by going out driving to look at Christmas Lights. Then come home, have some hot cocoa and cider and a light dinner like cheese and crackers, with summer sausage and some fresh fruit and veggies. After dinner time we sit around the fire and read Christmas favorites, like the Night Before Christmas, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, etc. After that we all open 1 gift which is a set of flannel Christmas Pajamas, which I always have washed and clean and ready to wear. Everyone wears their new PJs and we settle the kids to bed and hubby and I snuggle up to a good movie.

Growing up we always had a nice hot dinner normally a roast lamb and played games and had family time. Then as we got older and my siblings started to get married and having children then we'd still have the hot dinner and food was contributed by all (desserts etc...) then we would open one gift each that night.

Those that were staying overnight would and those wanting to have their own Christmas morning etc... headed on home.

Different years we've done different entertainment. One year we had a musical night and had teams etc.... it's fun to change it up, the main thing is you get family time.

I grew up in a country where Christmas is in summer so Christmas was more about cold food, BBQ's, salads, swimming etc....

Wendy~
Our traditional Christmas Eve dinner is Lasagna!!! I love it b/c it's totally opposite of what we'll be eating on Christmas Day! My mom always makes homemade lasagna, but you could also get the frozen ones from Costco or even just a grocery store and throw thme in the oven!
Good luck! You'll find a tradition that suits your family!

Hello, my parents always had a huge Christmas eve get together for all of the extended family at their house. Here's what we always did. Christmas eve, everyone would start to show up about an hour before dinner, but you could do right after if you don't want to cook two big dinners. Then it would be a buffet of finger foods, dips and all manner of Christmas sugary goodness laid out with drinks for the adults and hot cocoa for the kids (or sparkling cider). The kids usually ended up going downstairs to play fooseball or pool and the grown-ups and older kids would play a few board games, or some such. The game "Taboo" is a real hit with a large crowd. Then everyone opened gifts from family. (if you do this Christmas night you can have the kids pick ONE to open on Christmas eve.) Anyways, in my family Christmas day was given over to Santa gifts and sledding or whatever struck our fancy after Christmas Mass.

Maybe you can get some ideas from this. Hope it helps.

since you do christmas brunch, why not ask everyone to chip in for christmas eve and make it a pot luck?

Honestly, Christmas Eve is a huge deal at our house. My son is 10 now and looks forward to Christmas Eve almost as much as Christmas Day.

On the Eve, we have our big dinner. We have family and friends in and out of the house all evening. That is when we exchange gifts with them and I serve dinner to everyone that comes. There are so many that we just tell everyone to come by anytime after 6 p.m. Everyone helps themselves in the kichen and then joins the party when they are done.

I love it. I play Santa all night long knowing that everyone is fine in the kitchen.

Christmas morning is SO relaxing. We watch our son open his gifts and my husband spends the morning and afternoon playing with him. I make a light breakfast and clean up from the night before and we have left-overs...usually Shepard's Pie for dinner. We love it like that.

Also, my husband and I usually have "toys" that we like to play with on Christmas too. Last yr I got a Nintendo DS to play 2-player games with my son and my husband and son got a Wii. I much rather spend the day playing than rushing and panicking.

We have Christmas Eve with my in laws so our kids do not feel so rushed to visit with everyone on Christmas day. It leaves Christmas day alot less hesctic and the kids get to actually play with their toys not just get them then head to the families house. After we celebrate with his family we get hot chocolate from 7-E and drive around and look at the Christmas lights, usually by the time we get home all the kids have dozed off and the anticipation for them is alot easier. It is a wonderful family tradition the kids love. (probably because it is the only time they get hot chocolate in the car)

For Christmas Eve my extended family and I get together at my Aunt's house (she hosts this every year) and we all bring a dish and have a pot luck meal. When I was a child we also had a Christmas Eve tradition of opening one gift that night before bed (choosen by my parents).

Hi

I don't know how much family is involved in your gatherings but I think my mom has done a great job at deveoping our christmas eve traditions so I will share it with you.
I am one of 3 kids and we now all have kids so my mom decided that she would hold dinner on Christmas Eve. This is the time where our immediate family - 3 kids, mom, dad and now our kids can be together to share dinner, the Bible story, read the Night before Christmas and exchange gifts to each other.
Then we can have Christmas morning with our own kids in our own houses and then go visit our in-laws for Chrismtas dinner. This has worked really well over the years and now that some of the kids are older they are free on Christmas day to go to the movies!! :)
Good luck starting your Christmas traditions.
J.

I do a Christmas eve thing every year! We make it a true tradition w/ all the local family and close friends. The first year we did it we have freezer lasagna and salad, plain noodles for the kids. and had it land between the mass times for the local churches so people could come in and out. We have a blast and finnish the evening off with a reading of "Twas the night before christmas" in front of the fire place to our children, nieces and nefews. We dress all of the children in pjs before the story and they are eager to go to bed after because it is time for Santa to come, so it maes it easier for those that need to go home to get away at that point. Now my family has turned it into christmas dinner, so we have a big formal meal christmas eve, and then stay home and enjoy the quiet peace of the holiday on christmas. or if we go out it is only for snacks and presents at various houses. It allows us to remember the love of the season much better when we are not franticly running around

Hi Wendy,

As one of your other poster's said, we keep it pretty simple in our home on Christmas Eve, too. We pick a Christmas movie, usually Miracle on 34th Street or It's A Wonderful Life. We've always just had snacks for dinner, crab dip, cheese & crackers, salsa and chips, etc. All is followed up with the kids opening 1 present, always p.j.'s and off to bed they go with the reading of Twas the Night Before Christmas. There's too much going on the next day to make a big fuss the night before, we'd rather take it easy until they go to bed & then the Santa Claus's arrive!

My family has the big meal on Christmas Eve. Then on Christmas was have a late breakfast/brunch - usually eggs and pancakes, and for dinnertime, we have leftovers from Christmas Eve. The simple change has helped alot. Now we get to enjoy Christmas morning instead of rushing through, or having to wait while Dad basts the turkey.
Good luck and remeber to enjoy the day!
M.

Hi! I am one of 5 children, and now a mother of 3 myself. We grea up with my dad making taco's on Christmas Eve every year...and we loved it! I have continued that with my kids, and they love it also. It is easy, cheap, and thek kids can make their own so it entertains them :). We also have Santa send their Christams pajama's for them to open on Christmas Eve...hope you enjoy it with your happily sleeping baby!!

Christmas Eve was never much of a meal in our house. We attended Mass on Christmas and opened our gifts at night after Church.

I believe we just had a late lunch before Church.

If you are having company, I would recommend a sandwich platter or a sandwich meat platter and some heavy snacks.

Our Christmas Eve tradition is that we have heavy hors douvres (veggie tray, cheese & crackers, sweet & sour meatballs, bbq lil smokies, hot dips,etc.) and all the christmas cookies/candy we've been given. All these things can be made ahead and.or just heat & eat stuff. Then we watch classic christmas shows (It's a wonderful life, A Christmas Story, cartoons, etc) while playing games (board & video)and just enjoying each other's company. Nothing formal, just relaxed fun, food & family. We also let the kids open one gift from a family member, usually whoever won't be there on Christmas Day or one that was mailed from a relative who can't come. Then we call them! I hope this gives you some ideas and if you want recipes just shoot me a note and i'll forward you some. Good luck!

Our family tradition is to attend a Christmas Eve service. A lot of churches have early evening services which are easier to take children to than a midnight service. When we come home we read the Christmas story from a Children's Bible story book, set out a snack for Santa and go to bed.

My husband's family had a great tradition that lasted at least 30 years or so until his grandfather passed away.

Each year the family would get together at his grandfather's and have a nice dinner. Then, they would go to the evening Candlelight Christmas service at church, which always had a special story for the children. It always felt very cozy, and the traditional Christmas Carols were fun for the kids too. Afterward they would go back to the house for dessert (or seconds) and open gifts. The youngest always played Santa's helper passing out the gifts.

The whole family looked forward to it and it was a great way for extended family to see the little ones receive their gifts.

I grew up with having a small dinner on Christmas Eve, but what followed was great. We went around caroling to our neighbors or sometimes just sang Christmas songs together at home. We also read the Nativity story together, and the little kids got to act it out if they wanted.
After that we'd have eggnog (nonalcoholic :)and cookies before heading off to bed. We also had a tradition of opening 1 gift that night - new pjs to wear to bed. Hope those ideas help.

You could continue your chinese-take-out tradition that was started last year, only stay in the house for it this year. You could also maybe do a reading of a story with the entire family...if you are religious, such as the nativity from the Bible, if not, any Christmas story would also be appropriate and fun. You could make a fun cake or cupcakes with the kids (they always enjoy helping out!), that way it is something in the kitchen, prior to the big busy day in the kitchen, it would give the kids a chance to help out in there making some special treat for Christmas Eve, and that is something you can prepare with them in the afternoon. If you have any type of a video (again, about nativity, or Christmas stories such as A Christmas Carol), you can watch it together. I would jsut reach for something simple and easy, to allow you and your family some relaxing time to enjoy Christmas Eve together. I also let my girls each have a small gift on Christmas Eve, to sort of get them anticipating the big day even more (if that is possible!).
K.

We have always kept it easy and light on Christmas eve. Since we are wrapping presents and getting things ready for Santa, we would eat something quick and easy for dinner. My parents started reading The Night Before Christmas with me and my brother and sister. I too started this tradition with my kids. My husband's family has a tradition of eating baked Sketti for Christmas dinner. So we too added that dish to our table.

Wendy,

My faimly has always gone to grandma's house on Christmas Eve, she sets out buffet style dinner of cold meats,cheese, stuffing, some veggies and desserts. When it was my grandma doing it my aunts would go about and hour early and help out. Now it is my mom doing it as my grandma has passed on. I go and help out a bit beforehand or one of my older daughters will if i have to work until 5 on Christmas eve. When my mom passes on I will host Christmas Eve. After a light dinner we exchange gifts with anyone who does not live in our home. Christmas morning we have breakfast and gifts at home. Chistmas dinner is at my Aunts house. I am over 40 years old and every Christmas in my memories is about Christmas with grandma and grandpa and the sugar cookies. I remember a few of the gifts over the years but what i remember most is being with family. I think any tradition you start with your little one should be about family and will create awesome memories for your little one.

hugs
A.

- Have your guests bring potluck dinner.
- Have several frozen pizzas on hand.
- Cook spaghetti & garlic bread, have salad as a side.

Maybe you could create a gratitude tradition, where the focus is on what you're grateful for from the past year and not focusing on the food. Have fun!!
D.

We have done extended family on C. eve, which let everyone be in their own house C. morning(more important when there are more kids to drag around). Pot luck works, everyone assigned a dish or dessert, or do a little prep shopping at BJ's or Sam's and stock up on frozen finger foods like little quiche, potstickers, etc. We do an ornament exchange with my ex's family--everyone sits in a circle with an ornament wrapped or not your choice, and granddad reads "The night before Christmas." Every time he says "the", ornaments get passed to the left, and at the end of the story you keep the ornament you're holding. The kids are much older but still think it's a blast. We do pass out and unwrap presents from whoever is there that night, since we won't see them on Christmas itself. We have also done activities for the kids like decorating cookies while the food is being put out to keep them busy. Nothing too involved or messy. When I was growing up, C. eve was a light supper, Mass, and then back home for dessert and wrapping (my mother still wraps a ton of stuff on C. eve).

sammachy goodness!
if you have the big meal on christmas, keep it light and fun on christmas eve. sandwiches, or just a table full of easy appetizers (dips and chips, frozen egg rolls, a veggie platter) so everyone can graze. some things we always do is listen to carols, read 'the night before christmas' (even though my boys are now enormous) and open one present.
and go to bed early!
:) khairete
S.

I agree about something different than what you'll eat Christmas Day. I tried a ham Christmas Eve and Turkey Christmas Day and swore I'd never do it again. Since then we've done Gilbertini, a great pasta and sausage casserole that you can make ahead of time and freeze and also bergers and hot dogs or pizza. Let me know if you want the Gilbertini recipe! D.