Everyone has visions of a picture perfect traditional Christmas at one time or another. If you’ve tried to achieve this picture of perfection with lasting memories for your family before, only to fall short and maybe on your face, here are some tips to help you have that special Christmas dinner for your family and still be able to enjoy it.
Tips for Christmas dinner
The trick to having the perfect traditional Christmas dinner is to plan ahead. Here is a good timetable to follow:
Two weeks before Christmas
Plan your Christmas dinner menu. A ‘traditional’ dinner depends on where you live and your heritage. In the South, traditional means a turkey with cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, yeast rolls, and of course the traditional pies — chocolate, pumpkin, and pecan.
If you’re from the Northeastern United States, this isn’t going to sound too appealing to you. This is why it is very important to sit down and plan all the family favorites that are traditional to you.
One week before Christmas
Using your menu, make a grocery list with every item that you need to prepare everything for the dinner. Don’t even think about going to the grocery store without a list or without your menu planned — it won’t work.
Make your list and stick to it. This will save time by not having to make more than one trip to the store.
If you buy a frozen turkey at the store, put it in the back of your refrigerator to let it thaw until Christmas day. This is where many cooks go wrong. It takes a long time for turkeys to thaw — you can’t start thawing it Christmas morning.
Four days before Christmas
When your guests arrive, you want the house to be clean. With this in mind, do a quick cleaning of the floors and bathrooms. Remember to dust and clear clutter. While you’re cleaning, catch up on the laundry too. Doing these chores doesn’t sound fun, but you’ll be ahead of the game and have peace of mind on the big day.
Three days before Christmas
Wash and iron your tablecloths and napkins. Check your dishes, glassware, and silverware. If you’re fortunate enough to have a separate formal dining room, you can go ahead and set the table, complete with tablecloth, napkins, and place settings.
Decide on the centerpiece and set it out or arrange flowers. Also, think of background music. It’s nice and calming if you have some traditional Christmas songs playing softly in the background and really adds to the ‘Christmassy’ feeling.
Two days before Christmas
Make your pies and other desserts, and don’t forget to hide them from family members.
Christmas Eve
Prepare gravy and make any casseroles and dishes that you can make ahead of time. Choose dishes that reheat well and no one will know you didn’t make them Christmas morning. If possible, make a breakfast casserole for Christmas morning. This offsets the Christmas candy the kids are devouring and frees you from cooking breakfast.
Christmas Day
Check the cooking guide that comes with the turkey so you will know how long to cook it. If you have double ovens, great! If not, synchronize your cooking to allow the turkey time to cook. You may have to cook everything else before you cook the turkey and then warm the rest of dinner up.
By now, everything should be ready and everything in place for you to have that cozy, memorable, dinner and traditional Christmas.
