What is your Christmas Dinner Tradition?

Dear Reader,

I originally wrote this post during the second "Covid" Christmas season, which proved to be yet another difficult time for many.  And although now in 2023, many believe the pandemic is finally over, new variants continue to pop up.  I ask you to remain prudent and help to protect the vulnerable (the elderly, the weak, the immuno-compromised) during this festive season.

This is why I have decided to share some family traditions with you.  Christmas has always been a time to sit down over a special meal with family and friends to share special moments.

The menu on Christmas Eve varies from country to country.  Its traditions are a family affair.  Some are handed down from generation to generation.  Others, such as in my own family history, have evolved and have been adapted as new circumstances arose.

Here is how these traditions in my family have evolved.

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Christmas Carp

My Bonbon Oma (as we lovingly called my grandmother, because she always brought us candy and chocolate), grew up in Northern Germany in a seafaring family, her father being a sea captain.  In her family, the main Christmas dish was carp. 

A bit of history here: for Christians, the Advent season was in preparation for the arrival of Christ.  Advent season starts on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ends on Christmas Eve.  It was a season of penitence (the feeling or showing sorrow and regret for having done wrong) and fasting.  During the fast, it was forbidden to eat meat.  However, fish was considered a fasting food.  Since the Middle Ages Christians would traditionally eat carp for Christmas Eve dinner. 

Carp is a freshwater, bottom-feeding fish that is pretty fatty or oily fish.  Because it is a bottom feeder, it has a somewhat muddy taste and is difficult to eat because of lots of small bones.  Because of these characteristics, my mother was not fond of this fish and refused to serve it for Christmas dinner.

Christmas Goose

Mother’s idea of a proper Christmas dinner consisted of a roasted Christmas goose.  Goose is also very fatty, so to absorb fat she stuffed it with pears or apples.  It was served with sweet and sour red cabbage and a potato dish.  For variety, the potato dish was either parsley potatoes, potato dumplings, or potato pancakes.  Now there was a feast!  Absolutely delicious. 

Christmas Turkey

Once my family relocated to the United States, our family's traditions changed too.  We would still open our Christmas presents on Christmas Eve.  However, a Christmas goose was virtually impossible to find in California, or it was priced way out of the family budget.  So, our family assimilated and adopted a new Christmas tradition: the Christmas turkey, stuffing, and gravy, along with the dishes we were used to from Germany: sweet and sour red cabbage and the aforementioned potato dish.

Christmas Roladen

After I got married and it was just the two of us, I substituted my personal favorite meal with the Christmas dinner.  It was the one I had always requested for my Birthday: Roladen.  Roladen are a typical German meat dish with lots of heavenly gravy that is served with boiled potatoes, potato dumplings or mashed potatoes, and sweet and sour red cabbage.

However, once my family expanded and we would have relatives and friends over to share the holiday, our Christmas dinner included dishes that were part of the traditions from my husband’s side of the family.  Our Christmas feast would then consist of the traditional roasted Christmas turkey, bread stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, candied yams, green beans, potato salad, and macaroni and cheese.  One could feed an army with all those dishes!  For desert: Cherries Jubilee.

Tourtière, a Quebec Tradition

When we would celebrate Christmas with our French Canadian friends in Montreal, their Christmas meal featured Tourtière.  This is a minced meat pie made with ground veal and pork.  This is served with Quebec Catsup on the side.  Simply delicious!  And no, Quebec Catsup is in no way close to resembling commercially available Heinz Catsup.  And what was for dessert, you ask: Butter Tarts (Tarte Au Sucre) and Unemployment Cake (Pouding Chômeur).

Tamales, a Mexican Tradition

To prepare for their Christmas Eve dinner, my Mexican friends tell me that the days before Christmas, they will organize a tamalada, or tamale-making party where an assembly line of sorts is formed since making tamales is somewhat labor-intensive.  Tamales are a traditional Mexican dish made of masa dough made from corn.  The dough can be filled with savory meats (shredded pork, beef, or chicken cooked in a variety of different sauces), cheeses, vegetables, and chilies, then they are wrapped in a banana leaf or corn husk and then steamed.  There are even dessert tamales or sweet tamales filled with pineapple, strawberries, raisins, or sweet corn.

Best wishes to you and your loved ones for Christmas and the New Year.  May you find solace, hope, and a spark of magic that this season brings by remembering and sharing some of the beautiful and special times you were fortunate to experience in the past. 

In the comments below, I would love to hear, what culinary traditions you remember.  Won't you share them with all of us.

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