December 23, 2023

WEEKLY MENU 12.24.23

It’s finally here – Weekly Menu 12.24.23 includes plans for Christmas Eve, Christmas Brunch, Christmas Dinner and some easy meals for the rest of the week~

We’re still making cookies during the Weekly Menu 12.24.23, – one small batch at a time, but most of the presents are wrapped and on the top of the breakfront. I wrap as I go, normally, but Bert and I were out of town and they stacked up. Of course they all got loaded on top of the breakfront when they did get finished. Still cracks me up that none of the boysies ever noticed the correlation between Santa coming and the breakfront emptying off. No bothersome present hiding for me.

Looking for something (extremely) last minute? Check out our fabulous (some might even say epic) Gift Guide. It’ll help – there are 50+ ideas in there. And plenty that you can still get done before the big day.

Christmas is more relaxed during the Weekly Menu 12.24.23~

We used to head over to my oldest brothers home for a big, family centric Christmas Eve after Christmas mass. My sister-in-law makes a fabulous dinner with Roast Beast (actually beef tenderloin) and all the trimmings. They set up two (very) full tables – and the sheer noise from all of us getting together partying was one of my favorite parts of the holidays.

Alas, Covid changed all that. We started a new tradition, and it stuck. We now have an ever expanding “Garage Party” that starts after mass with a keg of beer, soup, sandwiches and cookies. Oh the cookies.

High end Open House is how we roll now.

We save the traditional Christmas Dinner for Christmas Day. Of course, everything will be high-end. It IS Christmas Eve, after all. Our menu is loosely based on the Holiday Open House post.

We’re starting out with some dips that can be made in advance, and warmed up when we get back from mass. I’ll even get the silver out to put everything on.

Ox Roast is a thing in Erieland.

It’s actually not ox. It’s beef that’s been seasoned and slow roasted. Then it’s sliced thinly and served in au jus. Our butcher makes some of the best ever – all I have to do is pop it in the crock pot and let it warm. We eat it on fabulous, soft rolls that are locally made. And we add horseradish. Plenty of it. You know you’ve got enough horseradish on there when you can’t fully catch a breath after a nice bite.

We’ll round out the dips, soup and sammies with our easy Potato Leek Soup. It’s vegetarian, cheap and a little bit decadent. Very nice trifecta.

Weekly Menu 12.24.23 has Christmas Brunch and Dinner too!

As mentioned, we ARE going full on traditional for dinner. We’re having ham, family favorite scalloped potatoes (we’re debating about adding Scalloped Onions) and a Baby Jesus Birthday Cake. Get all the deets at the link below.

CHRISTMAS DINNER

Honestly, I’m leaning towards a Pepperidge Farms Coconut Cake for Baby Jesus. It looks like our Baby Boy will be the youngest at the table, so he’ll do the honors blowing out the candle. After a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday to You”, of course.

The Weekly menu 12.24.23 has plenty of leftovers too – after a few days off from all the traditional, (hello Taco Pizza and Cheesy Chicken) we’ll use the leftover ox-roast in some easy sliders and pull together a creamy ham, bean and potato concoction with the leftover ham.