Southern Style Cooking: The Christmas Food I Can’t Wait to Eat

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

The Christmas Food I Can’t Wait to Eat

From My Family, to Yours

Victoria Heydt,
Editorial Project Manager

Welcome, welcome! I'm so glad you could join us. Please, take your coat off, grab a glass of mulled spiced wine, and have a seat by the fire. We're about to walk through what's in store for you at the Heydt household for the next few days and, shoot, I hope you packed your stretchy pants and Hawaiian shirt for these Christmas feasts, because you're going to need the room.

My family typically kicks off the festivities on Christmas Eve, with my dad's side, where my uncle and brother wear Hawaiian shirts in memory of my father. He used to get so hot at my mom's parents' overheated house that one year, as a joke, he put on a Hawaiian shirt. Since then, it's been our family tradition to wear Hawaiian shirts on Christmas Eve.

Garbed in our tropical finery, we indulge ourselves with shrimp cocktail, pigs-in-a-blanket, kielbasa with mustard (because we're German), and a charcuterie board. We sit around the coffee table eating, laughing, and reminiscing about years past. My grandparents love to regale us with the story about how they met—my grandfather crashed a wedding my grandmother was at. (OG wedding crasher in the house.)

Next we feast on a mouthwatering brisket that my grandmother has been making since I can remember. Her recipe calls for Kitchen Bouquet sauce, and it's absolutely divine.

My uncle brings his delicious baked salmon; my cousin brings a platter of roasted veggies; and we bring mashed potatoes and homemade rolls.

After dinner, we swap pink elephant gifts while enjoying a plate of my mom's epic cheesecake. The recipe is from a small German bakery that closed when I was a kid. This Junior's cheesecake is a good alternative, though.

We start Christmas morning strong. My brother, sister-in-law, their kiddos, and I go to my mom's house for breakfast. We make homemade bagels with smoked salmon, bacon, stuffed French toast, scrambled eggs, and Christmas mimosas. (Is Christmas morning actually Christmas without a breakfast mimosa? Hint: The answer is no.)

After breakfast and gifts, my mom and I head over to my aunt's, where she will have baked brie, sliced beef tenderloin served on crostini with a finger-licking-good horseradish sauce, potato and cheese pierogi (because we're also Polish), maple glazed ham, some fresh veggies, and Christmas punch.

If we have any room leftover after our day of feasting, we will savor more of Mom's cheesecake alongside some Italian butter cookies.

We will end the night with Christmas music on the car ride home, discussing how much fun we had and which dishes are our favorites.

Not up for making a whole Christmas meal from scratch this year? No worries, we've got you covered with these honey baked ham delivery services that can prepare a whole meal that is delivered to your doorstep.

What traditional Christmas foods do you and your loved ones like to make every year? Let us know on Facebook and Instagram @thespruceeats.

Victoria Heydt
Editorial Project Manager, The Spruce Eats