You may be the traditional type that cooks the same dishes each year for Christmas, or you may be more adventurous, willing to give new concepts and recipes a try. No matter which type of cook you are, you can be sure to deliver a great Christmas dinner for your family and friends. Consider the ideas below for this year’s Christmas dinner.
Turkey Dinner

One of the most traditional Christmas dinners consists of turkey, mashed potatoes, peas, dinner rolls, carrots, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. Depending on how many people are coming for dinner, you may want to prepare some dishes ahead of time to make it easier on the day of the feast. Get your children involved with the process and delegate tasks such as setting the table, filling the water glasses or contributing to the dishes by chopping ingredients.
Ham Dinner
Another traditional Christmas dinner choice is Ham.  There are a lot of similarities with the turkey and ham dinner menus, including mashed potatoes and peas, although some people go for scalloped potatoes instead of the mashed potatoes.  Some people also exchange the traditional stuffing that is served with turkey for pineapple stuffing, since pineapples are a popular item to serve in combination with ham.
Lasagna Dinner

A great alternative to a traditional turkey or ham dinner is to serve lasagna. Lasagna is relatively easy to cook, serves a large quantity of people and is popular among almost everyone. In addition to a large pan or two of lasagna, you could also make a salad, garlic bread and desert to complete a holiday dinner spread.   You may even want to consider cooking several different types of lasagna to give your guests variety; vegetable, traditional meat, sausage or eggplant.
Less Traditional Christmas Dinner Main courses

If someone wants to try something different for their Christmas dinner, instead of having the usual turkey, ham or lasagna, there are some people who have fish like trout,  salmon, or lobster.  Other main courses that people have are lamb, prime rib, Cornish game hens, and chicken.  A lot of people use their traditions from their native countries when creating a Christmas menu. In addition to the primary dishes, there are limitless options to consider for side dishes and for dessert.
So, be creative this year and serve an alternative menu for Christmas dinner. Surprise your guests and keep them on their toes on an annual basis when it comes to your Christmas dinner menu.

I love to cook, and I love to cook with my kids! There is nothing like picking out something fresh, cooking it up for dinner and sitting down to a meal you made yourself.

I had to learn to cook when I was young because my mom was an awful cook! I had eight little brothers and sisters, and all of the boys had bad food allergies. Besides that, we were very poor, so I had to get creative. I was just a teenager and I was in charge of feeding the whole family with $40 a week!!

Chicken was cheap. We ate a LOT of chicken, since beef was expensive! I learned how to cook with special ingredients like coconut milk and rice flour since my brothers couldn’t have milk or wheat. I couldn’t use a lot of salt with cooking either because it irritated their stomachs.

My husband laughed a lot at me when we got married. He likes salt, and he LOVES beef! I thought the way you cooked with beef was to buy one little tiny thing of ground beef and divide it in three small pieces. One went in a pan with a bunch of oatmeal, tomatoes, eggs and ketchup for meatloaf. Another went in a pot to cook with three big jars of spaghetti sauce and I would make a mess of noodles and some French bread.

Last I would make tacos, and this is what really made him laugh!  I would put two big cans of refried beans in the pan with the last tiny bit of cooked ground beef and a package of taco seasoning. He took one bite and put the taco down. “Honey” he said, “WHERE is the MEAT?”

I thought that was how you were supposed to cook!  He took me to the grocery and bought me a steak. I had never had steak!  He grilled it for me and made me a stuffed baked potato and corn on the cob. I was hooked!

Now we always have plenty to eat. My kids get to come in the kitchen and make cookies from scratch on Sundays, and we always offer to make fancy treats for school parties. My husband lets them grill out with him, and guess what? They like steak, too! Now my girl AND boys love to cook so we spend weekends cooking together as a family.