It’s the most wonderful time… of the year! For eating fabulous food. I’m so thrilled to host mom, Kris, Cara, and my nieces for Christmas in our new home this year. It’s been a whirlwind of settling into the new house and trying to get it guest ready, but it’s been a joyous task, as is creating the menu for what we will eat over the three days we’ll get to spend together.

Mom is coming up early on the 21st to help prep and watch football, and the rest of the crew will arrive the evening of the 21st. From there, it’s all about making the most of this merry time of year. I like to fully participate in the merriment and one thing that makes it possible is having a game plan and as much food prepped as possible. When I shared this mindset on IG, a lot of people agreed. So in case you’re hosting, too, I hope it’s helpful to see all this!

Christmas Hosting Menu

December 22

• Breakfast: Veggie Quiche and Hashbrown Casserole (from Swamp Rabbit Grocery)
• Lunch: Out in Greenville
• Dinner: White Chicken Chili with cornbread and chips with guacamole

December 23

• Breakfast: Bagels, lox, capers, eggs, sausage, cantaloupe
• Lunch: Vegetable beef soup, crackers, ham, Swiss cheese, cut veggies
• Dinner: Shepherd’s Pie, side salad, Bread Machine Dinner Rolls

December 24

• Breakfast: Bagels, lox, capers, eggs, sausage, cantaloupe
• Lunch: Kris’s Mexican Dip, Swiss cheese, crackers, summer sausage, Grandma Betty’s cream cheese dip, smoked wings, Spinach and Artichoke Dip
• Dinner: Seafood Gumbo (based loosely off Emeril’s recipe) over rice

December 25

• Breakfast: Mom’s breakfast casserole (x2), French Toast Casserole, fruit
• Lunch: Leftover seafood gumbo and snacks
• Dinner: Beef Tenderloin, Stathas family Christmas potatoes, Easy Green Beans, Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Bread Machine Rolls

December 26

• Breakfast/Lunch: Eat the fridge (whatever is left)

Christmas Hosting Make-Ahead Schedule

For me, making as much ahead of time as I possibly can lightens my load. This week is prep week, which looks like this:

• December 16: make vegetable beef soup, David’s famous chili, and the white chicken chili. I freeze the vegetable beef soup in Souper Cubes so we can heat portions as needed. I freeze the chilis in freezer ziplocks, laid flat for easy storage, since I will be heating the whole batch of those at once.
• December 17: bake our favorite Christmas cookies, Sugar Cookies, Gingerbread Cookies. Wednesday the girls and I will decorate some and freeze plain ones to decorate with my nieces. Then I will freeze all of these and pull out a variety as needed to fill the cookie platter.
• December 18: Make breakfast casseroles
• December 21 during football: make Shepherd’s Pie filling. Then cover and keep in fridge. I’ll add the mashed potatoes on top and bake on Monday.
• **Hailey is at an age where she can really help, and it’s so much fun. I walked her through how to make chili yesterday and she did it all on her own.

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Christmas Hosting Notes

I plan our menu based on a lot of family traditions and family preferences. For example, we are a family that loves to snack, so a snacky lunch works well for us. Growing up Grandma Betty would always get us a giant Swiss cheese to eat with summer sausage and Wheat Thins and Triscuits. I’ll also make a double batch of Grandma’s Christmas Oyster Crackers because we chow down on those things like there is no tomorrow. We are nothing if not a tradition-focused family, so we stick with it!

Beyond this, I also have a written game plan to check each morning to see what needs to be done. For example, Sunday morning I need to put the frozen chicken chili in the slow cooker to warm up while we are out for the day and make the spinach and artichoke dip for the following day. It’s SO nice to wake up and check the plan for each day so I have a fighting chance of not forgetting to prep the dinner rolls or pull the meat from the fridge early to allow it to come to room temperature.

Helping hands make light work. I love that everyone pitches in. It’s easier to have all the food and drinks already here (BIG thanks to mom who fully finances the operation- I just get to do the fun part of planning and shopping) already so no one is worried about packing coolers, but once everyone arrives, there are many helping hands for prep work and clean up. It really does make it more fun and I am appreciative. I love a busy kitchen full of delicious aromas and clatter.

Last note- if you’re looking for a delicious appetizer for your family or friend function, I highly recommend this whipped feta with roasted olives. I brought it to our neighborhood ladies pajama party the other night and it was a big hit.

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That was a lot, but I hope it was helpful to see! I know I’ll refer back to this post each year to remind myself what I made, what worked, and what should be tweaked. I’m also sure I’ll forget something along the way or realize I didn’t pick up an ingredient, and that’s OK. I’m not going for perfection. We are blessed to have such food and drink and each other, and if Finley gets a dinner roll off the table or my casserole doesn’t turn out just right, well, that’s how funny stories and happy memories are created. Happy holidays and Merry Christmas <3