The holidays around here are all about our family and the food! I revel in the ability to delight each person in the family with their favorite foods and spend just a little bit more time and effort making some of the things that we only eat once or maybe twice a year. Things like apple pie made from scratch, homemade rolls, turkey and cranberry sauce. Those things that just define the holiday table.
I have been so excited to share this post with you because I got such a special treat to show you what we have on our Christmas menu. My friend Jewel of Jeweled Interiors invited me to her home to put together this holiday menu photo shoot. I was in charge of the food and Jewel turned her home into a Christmas wonderland to show off this little holiday entertaining guide. She had fantastic and simple ways to create a gorgeous Christmas tablescape, she put together one of the most creative ways to create a buffet table for a holiday gathering and she tied it all together with perfect decor and DIYs in between. So follow along my friends to see this special treat I have for you today! {And see Jewel’s Holiday Home Tour here!)
Christmas Dinner Menu
So let’s talk holiday menus. The way I always like to do it is start by making sure we have all of the holiday favorites and foods that are the essence of tradition for our family. Those are the things that really make the Christmas table different than all of the other meals we eat throughout the year. For us we each have our favorites, for me it is cranberry sauce and apple pie. My husband loves mashed potatoes and corn casserole and the kids just can’t live with out homemade mac & cheese and soft, buttery rolls. With just that we have almost a full table, but of course I have to throw in some green, so we have a little bit of balance. You could do a festive green salad, roasted veggies, or we opted for a traditional green bean casserole since it is another food we really only enjoy during the holidays. The only thing left is the main dish. We chose turkey, most honestly because I adore making sandwiches with the leftovers but you could deck your table with ham, roast, or any of your favorite meats, or even go meatless with a roasted cauliflower head.
Since we usually spend awhile in the kitchen preparing this and eat mid afternoon, I also like to have a few appetizers. You will see in the pictures the two I made here are a simple wedge of gorgonzola drizzled with honey and served with crackers.
I also saw a video on Facebook that showed simple appetizer cups made with Pillsbury cresent rolls so I went ahead and threw some of those together too! They were simple and delicious! Here is what the menu comes out to look like all together and the recipes I use for the dishes:
- Appetizer: Gorgonzola drizzled in honey with crackers (I also many times make this Honey Pecan Baked Brie)
- Appetizer: Holiday Cresent bites with cranberry and brie and pear and gorgonzola.
- Main Dish: Instant Pot Turkey Breast
- Side Dish: Green Bean Casserole
- Side Dish: The BEST Corn Casserole
- Side Dish: Crock Pot Mashed Potatoes
- Side Dish: Homemade Mac & Cheese
- Side Dish: 3 Ingredient Homemade Cranberry Sauce
- Bread: Refrigerator rolls- Recipe coming soon!
- Dessert: The BEST Apple Pie- Recipe coming soon!
This is very similar to the menu we use for Thanksgiving each year, but we just love it so much that we repeat it for Christmas. We also love to share these if we are hosting during the holiday season as well. It makes for a full table and full bellies! The only thing that makes the food better is the people you share it with.
Christmas Entertaining Ideas
Now for a real treat. I wish I was as talented as my sweet friend Jewel, but at least I get to relish in all of the beautiful things she creates. She has some great DIY ideas that can make your holiday gathering with friends or even just a quiet Christmas dinner with family really very special.
You can see all of her home tour and details on the DIYs she did for her home on her site Jeweled Interiors. Make sure to hop over to see how she set up her mantle with the stockings at the very least!
Here are some of my favorite ideas-
To start, she had this very creative idea for setting up our food for serving. When you are entertaining and there is a lot of food and not a ton of counter space to put it on, this is just simply a genius idea! She took an old doll house and made it over into a buffet for serving our Christmas dinner. It was a simple trick that can be done with an old doll house your kids have laying around or if you are past that stage, you can find them readily on garage sale sites for just a few dollars.
We kept the holiday appetizers handy and put them at different heights to create a more visually interesting display. To do this we used a cake plate in combination with a regular plate propped on some coasters. You can use a myriad of things to create height when you are serving from candle stick holders to beverage glasses. Just get creative!
The table setting was nothing short of stunning! Jewel used a combination of textures, colors, and decorative pieces to make a functional table into a work of art. I especially love the sequined fabric she turned into a table cloth and the sweet glittered home DIY’s.
Adding cranberries to the water is one of my favorite little extras at the holidays. I like to put them in the freezer so that they also serve as “ice” to keep the drinks cold. They aren’t open so they won’t add flavor to the water in the short time they are in there and they give a beautiful pop of color.
I hope you liked this little sneak peek! Seriously… go visit Jewel at Jeweled Interiors and see the rest of this beautiful home and more of her home decorating tips and tricks to create a gorgeous holiday home.
AND of course, I would just love to hear from YOU! Tell me in the comments what is traditional at your home for Christmas dinner? Are there things you love, hate, or can’t live without? Also, tag me in your holiday food pics on Instagram @easyfamilyrecipes so I can see them!
Happy Holidays friends!
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