What are you making for Christmas Eve/ Christmas

I had plans on making a Christmas brisket in the smoker like last year, but I think I'm going to a more traditional spread this year.

I'll probably have a turkey, gravy, homemade mashed potatoes, couple loaves of homemade bread, homemade blackberry-cranberry sauce, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, and maybe a desert item like cupcakes or something along those lines.

You can make a lot of holiday classic dishes with fewer calories by trimming fat and excess sugar out of ingredients. Depending on the item you're making, you can cut a lot and still maintain flavor and texture if you're careful about it. Last year, I made my mashed potatoes with about 1/2 the calories than the year before per serving, and no one even noticed.

Ummm, homemade blackberry-cranberry sauce?? Please share recipe.

Sure!

You need:

1 cup orange juice
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup fresh blackberries
3 cups whole cranberries

Add cranberries, orange juice, and brown sugar to sauce pan, give it a little stir to mix everything together, and heat over medium heat until cranberries pop. Once the cranberries pop, stir frequently. Add blackberries, cover and keep on medium-low heat until gel forms and all sugar is caramelized and there's no runny liquid in the bottom of the pan. You should stir often during this process or the bottom will burn. Remove from stovetop and cool overnight in refrigerator. The consistency should be a loose chunky gel. It's delicious over white meat turkey, and you don't need much since it's very tart and sweet.

ETA: you may need to play around with the amount of sugar you use to get a nice glaze. You might need to use a bit more, but I usually start with 1/4 cup and add 1 tbsp increments until it's the right consistency.

Deer steaks. Not sure about sides yet.

Hi Everyone,
just wanted to get an idea of what people are making for christmas.

Christmas Eve my family is going to another half of the family's house, so that's mostly covered. I am helping to make a squash apple bake but with sweet potatoes instead as to not offend a couple people's taste buds

http://southernfood.about.com/od/wintersquashrecipes/r/blbb439.htm

The day of Christmas we're making homemade veggie lasagna (it was going to be homemade pasta, but we don't have a machine to roll it out evenly enough) and a roasted turkey breast, among other things like roasted brussels sprouts.

Luckily my family is never inherently unhealthy in their food choices, I just tend to eat too much lol

I'm planning to make a healthy version of an Italian sausage soup with potatoes, white beans, and kale. It's creamy and yummy, even without cream. I think Olive Garden has a soup like it. We'll eat that before church on Christmas Eve.

It's sort of lighter to make room for everyone's snacking later in the evening. Hopefully I can snack on sugar snap peas or carrots. Might have some chips & dip.

For Christmas, everyone wants to order BBQ, which is fine with me. I'm planning to get a bunch of smoked turkey and have it that day and as leftovers on salads.