What's a Christmas dinner that's still relaxing for the cook?

Red at ...and sometimes Tea has a great reader bleg up.  I'm interested in it myself and I know some of my readers have interesting solutions so I'll send you over there to discuss the "Christmas Dinner Dilemma" (which isn't really a dilemma but never you mind).  I'll reproduce most of the post here to encourage you:

One of the problems for us Americans is that we've had Thanksgiving a month before. Some families find it extremely important for Christmas dinner to be Thanksgiving Mark II, complete with turkey, dressing, cranberries, traditional sides, fine china and glassware, and all the panoply of the Thanksgiving meal, with, perhaps, a few unique Christmas touches (such as, perhaps, a real Christmas pudding, though that is not something I've ever tasted myself). Other desserts may be anything from the much-maligned yet under-appreciated fruitcake to the same sorts of pies one might serve at Thanksgiving; and the whole scene is supposed to convey the rosy glow of a Norman Rockwell painting.

But I have to be honest: I find the idea of cooking what is essentially a second Thanksgiving dinner a month after Thanksgiving rather difficult. On Thanksgiving Day the cook or cooks have the whole day to prepare and cook the meal; on Christmas Day the cook has considerably less time, and unless he or she absolutely loves cooking a huge meal and finds it a relaxing and enjoyable hobby to do so he or she is possibly going to be a bit cranky by the time the family troops in to eat. And, let's face it: preparing what is essentially the same "Holiday Meal" twice in a month is a bit boring. Sure, you could change the main course from a turkey to a ham or vice versa, and you can tinker with the sides and desserts a bit, but you're essentially doing the exact same sort of cooking.

Now, I know that lots of people skip the "Second Thanksgiving" type of Christmas dinner. There are all sorts of other meals that individual families embrace as their own family tradition. For instance, my sister's late mother-in-law reportedly made Christmas a day for a deli spread (which would be great in Texas in years when it's 70 degrees at Christmas). Around here, it's traditional for some people to order tamales for Christmas (or for New Year's). Many cultures have traditional Christmas foods which are very far from what is customary in our culture.

So, my bleg is this: I'd like to hear from readers who have Christmas food traditions that go beyond a second round of Thanksgiving fare. What do you cook and serve? Is it a family custom, a cultural tradition, or some combination? Is Christmas a day to pull out all the stops and go gourmet, or is it a day for a sort of glorified snacking?

As for me, I've only been the matriarch of Christmas day twice.  The first time, I was nearly eight months pregnant, and if I remember correctly we had Christmas Eve dinner with friends, then went to Midnight Mass on the way home with our sleepy kids.  It snowed us in in the morning.  I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast; we didn't eat lunch (just more cinnamon rolls); and I'm not sure what dinner was, but I vaguely remember it being chili or something equally simple.  Since Mark and the kids spent the whole afternoon building a snow fort, they were good and hungry.

The second time, our whole family got sick and we were unable to travel to our families in a different state (although almost all of our presents had been shipped there... that was a singular Christmas).  Christmas Eve dinner was certainly chicken soup, that year -- I don't remember what we did for the big day.

Both times we had a few different kinds of Christmas cookies, which is EXTREMELY UNUSUAL for me as I hardly ever make cookies of any kind.  (I had baked and frozen them ahead of time).   When we were sick, my father-in-law sent us a gift basket from the local posh grocery store, with fruit, cheese and crackers, and chocolate, and that was a big part of Christmas.  

Personally, I liked the pattern of festive Christmas Eve dinner with friends, Midnight Mass, cinnamon rolls for breakfast,  and a simple but hearty soup with fresh-baked bread for dinner (plus cookies all day and who really needs lunch?).  Since you're home all day, the soup doesn't have to be crock-potted -- it can burble along in the oven or on the back burner, and can even be the sort of thing that you have to Do Something To every couple of hours, which is sort of unusual.  Christmas might be a good day for boeuf bourguignon, perhaps, or ratatouille, if you can take care of some of the prep ahead of time.  But good old homemade chicken noodle or minestrone, as long as everybody loves it, is also pretty special.

Anyway, shoo, don't comment here -- go over to ...and Sometimes Tea.  Then if you want you can come back and copy your comment.

Comments

[Christy P.]

Copied from And Sometimes Tea...

Our family lives far from family and has developed our own traditional holiday meal -- Chicago style pizza (recipe from Cooks Illustrated).

For Christmas Eve, I am inviting neighbors for several types of fish including: pickled herring (DH family tradition), fish chowder (new this year from current Cooks Illustrated), ceviche (purchased from local Mexican vendor), and possibly shrimp remoulade (January 2012 Bon Appetit) and fish sticks (I have young kids).

I'm all about the notion of embracing what will bring joy to your family and not being bound by *tradition*. We hope that there will be sufficient snow for cross-country skiing on Christmas, and if that is the case we might ditch the pizza and have tomato soup (canned from the garden in August) and quesadillas with a bottle of wine for the adults and call our day a success!

[Christy P.]

Update: have a party planned for Christmas Eve, but no guests! Flexibility is a good thing.

[bearing]

Wish I could come to your party, C, but that would definitely complicate our Christmas plans. I happen to love pickled herring.

It was fun to go over there to Red's and read all the responses.

[Christy P.]

With just our family it will likely be reduced to pickled herring (kids love it, too), fish chowder, No Knead Bread, and cake - type TBD, but perhaps the Moosewood lemon poppyseed because everyone likes that.

[Christy P.]

Oh, and the outlook for cross-country ski-able snow is grim. Might be doing the cut the wine bottles with acetone and string craft instead (e.g. http://jaimelyn11.blogspot.com/2011/07/cutting-glass.html )

[Marybeth]

Beef Bourguinon, artisan bread, buttered noodles and green beans. Seriously. This year was the beginnng of a new tradition. Make the boule (or rye - or both) recipe from Artisan bread in 5 minutes a day up to a week ahead of time, then on cooking day it literally tkaes 10 minutes of work to turn out an AMAZING loaf of fresh baked bread, and you can make the beef borguignon recipe a day or two ahead of time. Reheating it allows the flavors to blend very nicely, and you only really have to "work" for the noodles and green beans.... I used the Julia Childs recipe this year. Next year, I will most likely use the recipe from "Don't Panic, More Dinner's in the Freezer" - an altogether AMAZING book.....

[bearing]

Oh hey Marybeth,good to hear from you again! It has been a while!