Turkey at Christmas

[Sweettears]

I’m a big ham fan. The DW not so much. She does relent and we have it a few times scattered throughout the year. She doesn’t view ham as being a holiday dinner entre. We do beef tenderloin for Christmas and seafood in the Italian tradition for Christmas Eve despite the fact that no one in my family is Italian.

 

[tvguy]

Thanksgiving traditionally to me is turkey.
Christmas traditionally to me is ham.
Some people do Prime Rib on Thanksgiving.......I about fainted they had $100+ prime ribs in the meat department yesterday.
We had a family vote yesterday and we're having home made Macaroni and Cheese......so I'll be cooking on Christmas. My daughter is vegetarian, making a turkey, ham or prime rib for two people just doesn't make sense.
When our son and DIL was still living in town we had the added problem that my DIL is allergic to turkey.

 

[ronandannette]

Thanks. So far so good.

I hear it's all downhill after the first day. Still sitting here feeling jealous though.

Thanksgiving is turkey, Easter is ham; anything else would be unthinkable. Christmas though can be anything and is open to whatever glorious possibility the host/hostess can dream up. I'm not cooking this year but when I do, I like to do a fancy brunch around mid-day or a crown roast of pork for dinner.

 

[Disneylover99]

In 2020 when I was working from home for the first time, I thought it would be fun to celebrate American Thanksgiving, so I cooked a turkey.

When Christmas rolled around less then a month later, nobody wanted turkey. It was too soon for us. So I won’t do that again.

 

[NotUrsula]

When I was growing up, we had turkey on Thanksgiving, Christmas AND New Year's Day, because it was the least expensive meat option to feed a large crowd.

These days I've ditched the "special" New Year's Day meal altogether, and we usually do ham on Christmas Day, because it is easier than poultry on a day when there is so much else going on besides the meal. On Boxing Day I make whatever I find on sale that morning, LOL.

We have seafood gumbo on Christmas Eve; that tradition is set in stone, but the meal on Christmas Day is open for options if I see something at the market that looks like a good idea.

I happen to love turkey, and I'll always buy an extra one if prices are good. One of my DD's favorite dishes is turkey tetrazzini, so I'll cook up some turkey parts to make that fairly often.

 

[Southernmiss]

Turkey is for Thanksgiving.

Christmas has too much else going on to do a big turkey meal. We host Christmas Eve for 20 plus family members. Christmas Eve is heavy appetizers like mac and cheese, chicken finger tray, maybe potato salad or coleslaw, a charcuterie board, 7 layer dip, cookies, Oreo balls. And seafood gumbo.

Christmas Day is leftovers or something really easy.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Growing up, my grandparents almost always had ham. We usually do turkey and ham, but not this year!

This year, my husband is smoking a brisket. You’ve heard of Christmas in July? Well, we’re doing 4th of July At Christmas.

 

[mumto3girls]

My mom loved turkey so we had it for both Thanksgiving and Christmas when I was growing up. Easter could be lamb or ham. MIL preferred ham so she only had turkey at Thanksgiving and had ham for both Christmas and Easter. I took over Christmas dinner about 20 years ago and usually do both ham and turkey. Our moms have both passed away now and i did try to get away with just a ham last year and there was great discontent amongst my children and their cousins. Turns out they like turkey sides (mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy) better than ham sides (scalloped potatoes). We do a broccoli casserole and sweet potatoes with either as well as Mac and cheese so those stay the same. I had no idea they cared about the food so much, but back to both it is at least for this year.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I remember turkey for both when I was young, and that's probably my favorite. But we usually go to MIL's now, and she tends to do turkey for Thanksgiving and ham for Christmas, which I also like. DH's aunt did Italian ravioli a few times, and I loved that too!

 

[dvcgirl67]

We always spend Christmas Eve with my side of the family which is at my sister's house and a lot of people. Over the years we've gone from more of a sit down meal with beef tenderloin to an evening of smaller plates with a combo of cold and hot appetizers that we nosh on through the evening.

Christmas Day is at my FIL's house. Last Christmas was rather somber as MIL passed the month prior. But, the menu is always the same. He makes "pigs in a blanket".....which he's obsessed over the declining quality of for years....yet still makes them. He's 92, nuff said . He used to make the lasagna....salad, etc, but the younger generations have taken that over. This year we're bringing cheese, charcuterie board and shrimp appetizer. SIL is bringing dessert, nephew and his wife are bringing the lasagna.

Minor dust-ups are going on with both sides of our families right now (we're not involved)....and so we're kind of just looking forward to getting to 2024 to be honest. If my business didn't keep me here over the holidays....we'd be on a plane to Costa Rica......sigh.

 

[fla4fun]

When I was a child, we went to my grandparents for Thanksgiving, so Mom would make her version of the traditional turkey dinner for Christmas. After we moved to Florida and the grandparents were far away, she moved the turkey dinner to Thanksgiving. We didn’t like the idea of anyone having to spend the day in the kitchen cooking for Christmas, so we started having easy to prepare meals. One year, we had sub sandwiches and chips for Christmas dinner! Now that our parents have passed, my sister and BIL come to my house and I make a baked pasta dish and garlic bread for Christmas dinner. It’s not a lot of work to make, and I can prepare it the day before and stick it in the fridge, so all I have to do is bake it on the day. We have been having that for almost 15 years now.

 

[easyas123]

Up until this year we have had Turkey & Duck on Christmas Day. This year we are changing things up - fondue Christmas Eve and Seafood appetizers on Christmas Day. Making it a bit easier and low-key.
While we don't traditionally celebrate or cook anything special on NY's eve or day, I'll probably make the duck at some point over that holiday.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I love it... unfortunately I think my MIL is going to do ham instead. I would rather have turkey for sure. If it was up to me, I would go for turkey, stuffing.... pretty much the same stuff as Thanksgiving.

 

[KPeterso]

We used to do turkey for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. But when we moved to be nearer to family, we stopped the turkey for Christmas as we normally went out with them. We stopped doing Christmas Day with the bigger family and then had 2 bad Christmases in a row. So I changed up traditions and we go to Benihana for Christmas. I do look for a marked down fresh turkey a day or 2 after Christmas to make one for my Dad who loves turkey. I can usually get one for $5-10 post holiday.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Growing up I loved Thanksgiving dinner (still do) and wanted that at Christmas, too. I was told it was ham and that was that!

Later I learned from my grandmother that traditionally hog-killing time was in the fall for farm families in our area, so ham would be the Christmas meat for that reason.

 

[lovesmurfs]

I used to do ham for Christmas -- kids suggested prime rib one year, and we've done it for about 10 years now. It's easy and the sides don't need to be baked in the oven.

Agree that turkey (and trimmings) is too much work.

 

[GAN]

Christmas Eve is always Seafood for us, then on Christmas Day it's usually a ham along with either Lasagna or other Italian dish. I love Turkey but I get my fill on Thanksgiving!

 

[Mle8308]

We do turkey on Thanksgiving and lasagne/pasta/meatballs on Christmas and no, we are not Italian. It's just easy. Turkey is a lot to prepare and since we had it the previous month, we want something different. Lasagne can be made ahead of time and popped into the oven, meatballs, too. We want Christmas day to be relaxed. We have a tradition of going out for Mexican food at a local restaurant on Christmas eve. Friends all join, we've had as many as 18 people. It's a good time!

 

[TheIncredibles!]

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 would tend to think that is the case. For us Turkey=Thanksgiving, Christmas = Beef or Ham and Easter is Ham and Ziti. One time DH's aunt made Turkey for Easter and we were a little confused. That is how regimented some of us are in our holiday menus Don't make something different and don't "try something new with the mashed potatoes this year" they're fine the way they were. Nobody needs parsley them.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

I loved reading all the different posts here, so interesting what people do. It varied in my family, was whatever my grandmother felt like making. Turkey, steak, ham, duck, tamales. My husband's family ate turkey, no discussion. About 5 years ago we talked everyone into making prime rib and Yorkshire pudding for Christmas dinner and haven't looked back. I even made a traditional plum pudding on stir it up Sunday last year. A lot of work, but the house smelled amazing.