Turkey at Christmas

[CdnCarrie]

I have noticed over the years here that Americans don't seem as likely as Canadians to make turkey at Christmas. Is this due to the fact that many just had it a month ago for T-Day? Most people I know in Canada have big turkey dinners on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. We often have turkey on both days with either side of the family.

 

[jdb in AZ]

I think it's because I'm not a big fan of turkey. It's o.k. for a traditional Thanksgiving but I'd rather have prime rib for Christmas.

 

[soccerdad72]

Yeah, it might be because of Thanksgiving being so close, I suppose.

We do roast a turkey for Christmas Day. It's my wife's family tradition, because he liked turkey more than beef or ham. He passed away many years ago now, but we still keep the tradition.

I cook a prime rib for Christmas Eve dinner - we actually do a bigger meal that night than Christmas Day (and generally have more people over).

 

[Schneewittchen37]

As a kid, we always had turkey for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.

These days, sometimes we get a ham for Christmas instead. It depends on whether we're with extended family or not and DH's whims. But then, I think I'd rather have a ham for New Year's Day anyway.

This year, not sure yet. I'll decide on Friday when I go to the grocery store. We still have a ton of fryer oil left from Thanksgiving, so I'm leaning toward another turkey.

 

[MGMmjl]

We usually do turkey and ham for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I feel like for many years, we did have turkey for both. But then it seemed to move to ham on Christmas. Maybe it was because fall started to get inundated with pumpkin everything, and turkey gobbler sandwiches became popular, idk. I think a ham is sort of easier, too. Turkey is my favorite, but I like both.

 

[QueenIsabella]

You're probably right about the "too close to Thanksgiving" thing. Especially since turkey's tend to be big, and you can be eating leftovers for days. Plus, the traditional sides are pretty much the same.

I try to get smaller birds cheap, and then cook a second one, some time in Jan.

We'll be having a standing rib roast on Christmas, with mac and cheese as one side (for my vegetarian daughter). Also, I typically make a yummy sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving, but we were away this year. So, I'll make that for Christmas Day--it's substantial and delicious. I don't want my daughter to feel like she's second-class because she won't eat the roast. There will be other stuff, too.

 

[Lord Manhammer]

I have noticed over the years here that Americans don't seem as likely as Canadians to make turkey at Christmas. Is this due to the fact that many just had it a month ago for T-Day? Most people I know in Canada have big turkey dinners on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. We often have turkey on both days with either side of the family.

We had honey baked ham for years growing up and now we have lasagna every year. It's interesting that so many Canadians have turkey on Xmas. What do you eat on Canadian Thanksgiving?

 

[CdnCarrie]

We had honey baked ham for years growing up and now we have lasagna every year. It's interesting that so many Canadians have turkey on Xmas. What do you eat on Canadian Thanksgiving?

turkey.
Of course I have a large family so a turkey is good for feeding a crowd.

 

[tinkerbellandpeterpan]

I think you're right that it's close to Thanksgiving so we don't want to do another turkey dinner. This year it's spiral ham on Christmas Eve and prime rib roast on Christmas Day. That seems to be fairly consistent unless we go out to eat on Christmas Eve. It really doesn't matter to me what we have (including turkey).

Depending on how the holidays fall sometimes my DH and I are by ourselves at my in-laws' house on Christmas Eve (Florida) as they fly back from NY on Christmas Day (every other year). We just go out to dinner together those years which is fine by us.

 

[RedAngie]

Sometimes turkey, sometimes ham, sometimes prime rib.

I haven’t yet decided for this year.

 

[slo]

I like a turkey dinner for Christmas Eve, but the in-laws gave it a years ago when we did it, and it has never been done again

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My mom's side of the family has done both turkey and ham for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year for Christmas my family has decided to change the entire cuisine to Italian. It's been talked about in the past to do different things depending on the mood of the year so I'm not entirely surprised.

For my mother-in-law's side where we do the big meal on Christmas Eve it's usually the same turkey and ham and follows very closely the same meal from Thanksgiving. Assumedly this will be the same this year even if mother-in-law chooses to do a meal purchased from a restaurant but not sure for this particular year. For quite a many years now we've done Christmas morning breakfast at IHOP.

For Thanksgiving my father-in-law's side often does lasagna or some other random meal but they did not host any Thanksgiving this year. We just did their Christmas yesterday and it was mostly pulled pork and shredded chicken sliders and random sides. There doesn't seem to be necessarily any traditional theme to their meals for Christmas.

 

[_19disnA]

We now like turkey for both holidays. Used to do prime rib for Christmas, but just seems too heavy/greasy for the way we now eat. Turkey seems much healthier and really isn't that much work to get consistent results. The house also used to have a lingering smell of grease when we cooked prime rib and recall having a discussion about that at Thanksgiving.

Depending on how many we are feeding, we sometimes do a whole turkey breast instead. Most of our family likes the white meat and most of the time no one ever cared for what little dark meat there now is on a whole turkey and the drumsticks have too many small bones to effectively carve for serving.

 

[Moliphino]

We've always done turkey for Christmas day.

 

[ElevationNotice]

well I love Turkey at Christmas.

 

[TippyThomas]

Sometimes turkey, sometimes ham, sometimes prime rib.

I haven’t yet decided for this year.

Hope retirement is treating you well.

 

[RedAngie]

Hope retirement is treating you well.

Thanks. So far so good.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

I have noticed over the years here that Americans don't seem as likely as Canadians to make turkey at Christmas. Is this due to the fact that many just had it a month ago for T-Day? Most people I know in Canada have big turkey dinners on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. We often have turkey on both days with either side of the family.

TOO MUCH work to make a Turkey dinner imo. Although I will make Lasagna for Christmas day and that's not a one pot meal either, lol!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I have noticed over the years here that Americans don't seem as likely as Canadians to make turkey at Christmas. Is this due to the fact that many just had it a month ago for T-Day? Most people I know in Canada have big turkey dinners on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. We often have turkey on both days with either side of the family.

I've always had a big turkey dinner both for Thanksgiving and Christmas. On occasion (when we had big family get-togethers) a ham might also be added.