christmas 2020 menu

Like many of you, our Christmas is totally different this year! Usually we feast for two days straight with family. Since that won’t be happening, I’m sharing below what I’m making below in hopes that it gives you a little inspiration. My goal: to not spend Christmas in the kitchen or doing a huge clean up! Because of this, I’m preparing a lot of stuff ahead of time – almost everything!

Here’s what we’re eating.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we’re having a nice meal but not the HUGE meal we usually have. I’m going to make filets on the grill – but use my espresso rubbed tenderloin recipe. I’m not making the entire tenderloin (even though I’m sure Eddie could eat it throughout the week!) and horseradish sauce too. I’m also going to saute some mushrooms for the side!

christmas 2020 menu

We are also going to have twice baked potatoes. My mom makes these and they are incredible. Great to prep ahead of time!

christmas 2020 menu

I’m going to make a salad, probably a caesar. Maybe a small cheeseplate too. And I’m considering my parmesan roasted broccoli as well!

christmas 2020 menu

Christmas Day

For Christmas morning, I’m still on the fence. I’m either making my creme brûlée french toast or my one hour orange rolls. I’ve also considered making this overnight egg bake from NYT, though we definitely don’t need this much food for us. I might try and cut that recipe in half. Basically, I just want something savory in the morning on Christmas! I will prepare both of these on Christmas Eve afternoon.

christmas 2020 menu

For lunch, I’m planning on grabbing sandwich and salad ingredients from grocery pickup tomorrow. I have smoked salmon and cream cheese of course. I’m also making a batch of my favorite tortellini salad – actually making this today. It gets better as it sits. Lunch will be grab-it-yourself, aside from the kids of course.

Or maybe we will all just survive on Christmas cookies! Who knows.

christmas 2020 menu

For dinner, I’m making my lasagna bolognese. I’m actually preparing tomorrow (Wednesday), two days ahead of Christmas. It’s another dish that gets better as it sits too. We’re going to have this on Christmas evening with a big house salad and maybe some garlic bread if we’re not to carbed out.

christmas 2020 menu

Snacks & Treats

While I’m well into baking and have cookies here (that will be our dessert, when needed!), I do want to have a few snacks on hand. I’m giving these things away with cookies, but will keep some on hand for us throughout the weekend to enjoy.

christmas 2020 menu

Chipotle caramel chex mix

Fire crackers

Ritz cracker peanut butter cups

What is your menu like this year? Usually, I’m making a huge batch of lobster mac and cheese to enjoy with our whole family! I never host christmas eve or day, so my goal is to keep things as low maintenance as possible on those days, while preparing everything ahead of time.