Christmas Eve Ideas - Missoula,MT

We have fondue, its fun, informal and have done it with my parents for well over 30 years. The kids always love it. You can do meat, cheese, dessert. The fun of the meat is that the kids can dip into a varity of sauces after they cook their meat. 3 might be a little young but perhaps with some supervision it could be just as fun for her. Happy Holidays.

I love driving around to see lights, but how about game night? you could give the kids some games & then play them. Lots of fun for the whole family. Enjoy!

P.,

We do our BIG meal on Christmas day and Christmas Eve we have a platter with Cheese, Sausage (like Summer) and Crackers. And I make a big pot of Chili and a pot of either Clam Chowder or Potato Soup. (That way there are choices! - we have 4 kids) :).

Have fun with it and MERRY CHRISTmas! :)
C.

Every year on Christmas Eve we have lasagna for dinner. My mother-in-law always did this and I have continued the tradition.

We usually have a fire in the fire place and relax with the kids with a christmas movie. I usually only have a couple gifts under the tree up until Christmas. After the kids go to bed on Christmas Even I put all the presents under the tree so it looks like Santa came in the night.

It is so much fun to see their faces on Christmas morning!

Then we usually have a baked ham with side dishes on Christmas day but we do this very informally. On Christmas eve with our lasagna we make it kind of special with the tablecloth and Christmas dishes and sit down as a family but on Christmas day even with the ham we have more of a buffet type setting with lots of snacks and treats.

We don't go anywhere over the holidays anymore. Most of our family is out of town and my husband has to work holidays often. This year he works during the day on Christmas eve but does have Christmas day off. (Last year he had to work on Christmas day)

Warmly,
A. Chavez

My family always goes out to look at christmas lights, just drive around in a car for a little while. sometimes there are houses or businesses in the paper that are great. some are my parents just keeping their eyes open driving around at night. But we just drive around, as soon as we spot some lights, we go down that street. Fun for the kids to try. May have to be a short trip with the youngest :)

I don't remember if we had a tradition before we moved to Pennsylvania when I was 8, but that year, we decided to have "hoagies" to honor our new home. And it was perfect! I absolutely fell in love with it. When we were visiting my parents (no longer in Philadelphia) a few years ago, they changed things again and it was such a disappointment!

The menu goes like this:
platters full of sandwich fixings, like sliced cheeses and meats, pickles, lettuce, onions, etc. Whatever you like.

"Dream Salad" (you dump a large container of cottage cheese, most of a container of cool whip, and a 2 boxes of orange Jello in a big bowl, stir. Then gently fold in 1 can of pineapple chunks (or tidbits) and one can of mandarin oranges, both drained well. Yum!)

Several kinds of chips and dips (my favorite is ripple potato chips and onion dip, also tortilla chips and homemade corn salsa)

Soda

It's easy and quick to get set out on the counter, then we all build our own sandwiches. This was not our usual dinner fare, with soda and chips, so it really felt like a party, which added to the festive atmosphere. It also left us lots of time to do our other Christmas Eve traditions, like reading the Christmas story from the bible (and when we were young enough, acting it out) and opening one gift.

When I think about it, it sounds more like picnic or Superbowl food. I think that's why it was so fun to have on a dark, cold winter night.

Another suggestion if you want to go with something more seasonally appropriate is soup in breadbowls. Albertsons sells great breadbowls from their bakery, and there are so many options for yummy soups! You could have two kinds available, like cheddar broccoli potato and chicken with wild rice, for those who have different tastes. Add a yummy special salad (like spinach and assorted greens, and offer crumbled bacon, hard boiled eggs, mandarin oranges, sliced almonds, mushrooms, etc on the side) and you've got a hearty, warming winter meal.

We've pretty much started our Christmas tradition with a ham on Christmas eve-day, then baking cookies for Santa, gonna make reindeer food this year (dry oatmeal + glitter sprinkled outside), and the only presents we open are new pajamas to wear that night. Then Christmas Day is opening gifts, late breakfast, leftovers, and napping.
(I don't know yet either what that'll look like this year based on our budget---you are not alone!)

It is nice to incorporate history and ancestry into Christmas. If you know where your ancestors originated or what country your last names are from (and think - your maiden name, your mother-in-law's maiden name, grandparents, etc). Look up those countries on the internet and find what is considered a traditional meal, either at Christmas or at any festive time. Try to represent that in your meal. You probably can't get too exact (due to cost and difficulty in finding ingredients), but you'll get inspiration. Type the recipe name into Google and look for American inspirations on those old-world recipes. Label each dish with country, and maybe put a photo of the person whose ancestors it represents. It doesn't matter if the dishes don't all go together. Like you can have a pasta dish, and a fish one, and a spicy bean one -- people can just sample different tastes.

We always collected Christmas story books and brought them out on Christmas eve. We all got comfy and read outloud. Some books were fun, some serious, some were old favorites and some years there'd be a new one. A plate of cookies to munch on, a glass of wine or hot chocolate, and it was something my kids looked forward to every year.

We have a fondue for Christmas Eve. We only do it once a year and the kids always look forward to it. We use steak and hot dogs for our meat. We don't always do an expensive piece of meat for my husband and I - anything that is cheap at the time. I mix up some Bisquick and water for our dip. This makes the hot dogs like corn dogs for the kids. My kids have started to eat the steak as they get older. The steak is good with the Bisquick too. Then we buy some pizza rolls, cheese sticks and some fruit. Usually anything that is pretty easy to cook. When we are done with the fondue we drive around and look at Christmas lights to wind the evening down.

Hi P.- We have huge Christmas day dinners as well. So on Christmas Eve, we always make up a batch of soup. It's warm and cozy, easy to prepare, and just right to lead into the huge meals on Christmas day. We do a different soup every year depending on what sounds good and what we have in the house. We've done chicken noodle with biscuits, brocoli cheese with muffins, minestrone with breadsticks, and one year we even did tomato soup with grilled cheese. Good luck!
-S.

I would recommend something that is not completcated. If you have Turkey or Prime Rib for Christmas. I would recommend a soup. Chicken Noodle, Chilli or even beef stew all of these can be made in a crock pot and will be great for dinner and easy. You could make home made rolls or go for the Rhodes Rolls so their still taste homemade. If you want something a little more fancy I would recommend a whole roasted Chicken with fresh roasted winter vegatables. I love going to foodnetwork.com to look at recipes. If you let me know what you might like I could give recipes. (My new hobbie is collecting recipe books) or more ideas.

We have clam chowder and breadsticks. I also had a friend whose family did fondue every Christmas eve. Super fun tradition and really yummy food.

Good luck finding a good traditions. They are what make the best memories for your kids.
Merry Christmas!

Hi P.!
We do more of what would be a "traditional" Christmas Eve meal for our families - mostly Scandinavian. My husband is part Czech, so we do the pork hocks and sauerkraut thing (Yikes! We've been married for 15 years and I am still not used to that one, but he grew up with it, so I go with it!) We do cheese and crackers, smoked salmon, herring, sausage, etc.

We hosted my husband's whole family a few years ago and this is what I did: I asked each of them for two things. One was thier favorite Christmas recipe and the second was their favorite Christmas memory. I tried to incorporate as many of their recipes either on Christmas Eve or on Christmas day and if I could also incorporate their favorite aspect of Christmas I did that. THEN, I made books for each couple with everyone's picture, recipe and memory in it. They loved the keepsake and the effort I made it try to make the holiday special for everyone. We open two gifts Christmas Eve: one is an ornament (we started getting an ornament of whatever they were for Halloween!) My family did the ornament tradition when I was growing up, and I now have a tree full of memories! The second is their Hanna Andersson pajamas.

Christmas Day we open gifts and then have an egg bake. A big turkey dinner with all of the fixings comes in the afternoon. Leftovers from the night before tide us over while we cook!

A note: my mother-in-law used to put a new gift under the tree each day of advent. Cute idea.

I'm sure whatever you do everyone will have a wonderful time. Enjoy!

K.

Hi P.,
Growing up, we'd always have clam chowder in breadbowls that my mom would make. We would also have 10 layer Jell-o and sparkling cider or cranberry juice with Sprite. We would eat on my mom's china with her goblets. My mom would also gather all the candles she had and put them on the table. We would eat by candle light and listen to christmas music playing softly in the background. After dinner we would read the Christmas story in Luke 2, and talk about what Christmas really meant to us. Then, right before bed, we'd hang up our stockings, put out milk & cookies and go to bed.

Now that we're all grown up, we have that dinner on Christmas day because of my brother's wife. (Her family only celebrates on Christmas Eve, not on Christmas day.)

With my kids, we go to my in-laws and have a nice dinner of baked chicken, ham, or sometimes steak. We also have shrimp as an appetizer. After dinner and spending time with grandma & grandpa, we go home and get ready for bed. Then, we read Luke 2, and talk about the real meaning of Christmas, then they open one present each before, and it is either pajamas or slippers and a "present" together. It is a Christmas book that we read right before bed. We also put out cookies & milk for Santa and carrots for Rudolph & the other reindeer. (I collect Christmas/kids books, so I get a new one every year that I wrap up and the kids get to unwrap.)

Good luck making your own traditions. Your kids will look back and have great memories no matter what you do. Just make it something that you enjoy together!

-Shellie

We also open gifts on Christmas Eve, and for dinner we always have clam chowder, I'm not sure how the tradition started, but we have been doing it for years. We also do lots of snacks/appetizers to munch on all evening while we hang out and open gifts. It is pretty relaxed on Christmas Eve, everybody goes out to look at Christmas lights, then gets into jammies or other cozy clothes, eats, opens gifts, plays games etc. til bedtime. We do a more formal dinner on Christmas day.

little snack foods like summer sausage and crackers.

My sister-in-law usually has hours left of wrapping (literally, we've spent 6 or 7 hours Cmas Eve wrapping- til the wee hours of Cmas Day). She either orders pizza or we make a bunch of appetizers. Since you've got small people as well as grownups, I'd ask them to each bring a couple of appetizer recipes that y'all can quick toss together. My kids don't have soda often so soda w/their meal-and a second glass which NEVER happens-would be a huge treat for them. Pepperoni rolls, bacon-wrapped water chestnuts, veggies, fruit & dips for each, pinwheels w/cream cheese inside, maybe some storebought mini egg rolls or pizza rolls... quick to grab, easy to much on while unwrapping or watching a Cmas movie...

We have our big dinner Christmas eve, but Christmas day we do something easy, like pizza, chicken & potato salad, seafood salad, or grilled cheese sandwiches. You could do any of those on Christmas eve.

For years we did pizza avery Christmas Eve, but the kids got tired of it. This last year we got several finger foods such as shrimp , artichokes, crackers with cheese spread and sliced summer sausage, etc. In the middle of the table we put the cocktail sauce, melted butter, etc. and sat around the table, dipping the shrimp, spreading cheese in crackers and so forth. It was fun and engaged everyone in conversation. It was a big hit, and we will be doing it again this year. Hope you find a great idea that works with your family!