Christmas Dinners 2012

Since I was a little girl, I have typically had more than one Christmas celebration during the holidays. With divorced parents, I would spend some time with my mom and then some time with my dad. And since my mom remarried in 2005, we have added another celebration with my stepdad's kids.

The Soper family tradition is to have a meal made up of dishes that are everyone's favorites. People choose things to bring based on what they like, so it is not necessarily a meal filled with Christmasy food, but always a tasty one.

This year, as always, we had much more food than necessary. Our smorgasbord included the following items, as well as those pictured below:

--Chili

--Rotel cheese dip and chips

--Vegetable tray

--Little smokies

Pickle Rolls

(pickles wrapped in ham spread with cream cheese)

Macaroni and Cheese

Mini Pizzas

(sausage and Velveeta cheese on rye toasts)

 Apple Tart

(from Smitten Kitchen)

On actual Christmas Day, we had dinner with my mom's family. My mom and I were the people in charge of cooking, which is what I like to do best anyway. We do not cook the same dishes every year, but I think this year was fairly similar to last year. Once again, we had more than enough food, and our menu was as follows:

--Turkey
--Stuffing
--Mashed potatoes and gravy
--Asparagus
--Brussel sprouts
--Cranberry sauce (a new recipe from Emeril)
--Rolls
--Pecan pie
--Raspberry Jell-o salad

Christmas Day Spread

Pecan Pie