Happy Holidays Warrior! I’m not sure if it’s having a kiddo or the fact that our entire family schedule revolves around school, but December just seems to fly. Between the usual holiday prep and my husband and I wrapping up a semester, the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years are some of craziest of the year. One thing I don’t stress over, though, is Christmas Eve dinner.
Now, I’ve called this Christmas Charcuterie because that is the holiday my family celebrates. But of course, you could certainly work this into whatever celebration happens to be your jam. I mean, think of a latke based Hannukah spread, a massive fruit bowl as part of a Kwanzaa celebration, or as a fun way to host an appetizer based New Year’s party.
When I was growing up, my family always went to Christmas Eve Mass. My parents weren’t into the whole midnight thing, mostly because they knew their kiddos would be awake at 5am looking to get into prezzies. We also had two huge meals on Christmas Day. A homemade Italian feast at my dad’s parents usually around lunch time and then a more traditional turkey and ham smorgasbord with my mom’s family for dinner. And of course, my mom had a holiday breakfast, too.
This basically meant that my parents didn’t feel the need to add another huge meal (with all its prep and clean up) to the schedule. But they still valued family time. So, we would get home from Mass, change into our jammies, turn out all the lights except the tree, and just have a snack style dinner. My parents were so ahead of their time. Before (I mean way before) charcuterie or Girl Dinner was cool, we were eating this way for a holiday.
Since my husband and I have been married, the holidays can be even tougher as our families aren’t from the same area of our state. And early in our marriage, we lived in completely different states from our families. His family did the whole Feast of the Seven Fish extravaganza. But since we were looking for a tradition to keep us grounded, especially in years we chose not to travel, we adapted my family’s snack dinner and Christmas Charcuterie was born.
Again, this can be adapted to any holiday traditions, tastes, preferences, or cultural practices. The point is that it is easy to throw together and can serve as lighter fare at a time when heavy foods usually dominate. I find it an easy way to incorporate fruit and veg when I otherwise might not be inclined to eat them.
Our charcuterie board always includes shrimp as a nod to the Seven Fishes. If we aren’t traveling, my husband will often also make homemade fish sticks with cod. If not, I’ll usually put out some turkey or ham (whatever we aren’t having the next day). We are Italian, so cheese is a must. I usually stick to two types.
In the past I’ve made spinach-artichoke dip, but I don’t always. Carrots, cucumbers, grapes, oranges, and apples are standard fruit and veggie fare. I usually put a few different types of crackers on our board, although bread would also work. Everyone in my house likes pistachios so those usually make the cut. Plus, they’re green and festive.
Lastly, holiday cookies. A good mix of these are a must. Any we have been gifted go on the board and I usually make sure a few of my boy’s favorites are there, too. Peanut butter blossoms and biscotti are ones I make every year.
We plunk the whole shebang down on the floor in front of the tree and listen to holiday music while we eat. It was, and remains, my favorite holiday tradition.
Warrior, I hope you have a had a wonderful year and as always, thank you for spending a little of it with me. I will be taking a few weeks to spend with my family and friends during this holiday season. I’ll be back in the new year with some great stuff, though, so don’t forget to check back. Happy Holidays!
