I have decided to start a new tradition for Thanksgiving. I am not that fond of turkey. Besides, it's just me since the Pampered Princess turns up her adorable snub nose at most "people" food.

I believe that I will either do the crock-pot sauerbraten recipe that Linda Larsen has on her website or I will purchase a spiral sliced ham. If I do the ham, I will either have sweet potatoes or a winter squash soup along with either a salad or a green vegetable.

For Christmas I will cook some beef. My choices are beef burgundy, a steak, or Linda Larsen's sauerbraten. If I do the sauerbraten, I'll have red cabbage and spaetzel.

I will be eating Thanksgiving and Christmas at the nursing home with Mom, but I will be cooking a holiday meal at home to eat with Aurora.

Wow, your already thinking of holiday meals?  You are way ahead of me, I don't even know what I want for lunch yet and that was an hour and a half ago! 

I have to face the possibity that Mom won't be alive for the holidays.

My relatives do not include me in holiday gatherings. I have to make my own festivities. That is not meant to sound like a pity party.

I think eat what you want for holiday dinners!   we prefer ham here.  my mil does most of the holiday cooking so turkey it is.

 Turkey and ham are served for Thanksgiving, no matter who hosts the family that day, along with many sides.  Christmas, there will be poultry and main-dish casseroles, as well as selection of veggies and salads.  

-thyme2save 

I haven't even thought about holiday meals. I need the weather to be much cooler than it is now for me to think about all that cooking.  We usually have turkey or ham for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  BUT, we have had other meals in the past, a roasted chicken, cornish hens, steaks done on the grill, lasagna.  We have even eaten out on Thanksgiving (one year our stove quit working smack dab in the middle of roasting our Thanksgiving turkey).  We just went to a local restaurant and had supper there.  One year for Christmas we did burgers on the grill and the year my DH spent part of Christmas in the hospital with a kidney stone we had a traditional meal with his family but for Christmas day he was home but didn't want to eat much so we just had soup and a sandwich.  We usually have a "traditional" type meal with DH's brother, sister and their families before Christmas.  So we're OK with doing something less "traditional" at home. We usually have a family meeting early in Octobor and I ask DS's and DH what they would like to do and we go from there.  For us it doesn't matter what kind of food we have for holiday dinners.  It's being together to celebrate them that matters to us.   

Shellia  

I usually end up working most/all of the holidays.  The boon of being a nurse. However since it is just me and my dog I usually I make cornish hens two of those will last me several meals since I eat very little meat. 

DH & I share holiday cooking.

He usually takes Thanksgiving and New Years on Thanksgiving he maks the stuffing, dressing, bird and side dishes I make the candies yams, the apple and pumpkin pies (made months in advance and frozen) Ds#2 will be making three loaves of bread this year; white, cheese & chocolate chip (dd#1 &ds#1 have both been stuck with this chore in the past) and Ds#1 will be making the pecan pie to honor dh's southern roots. Before I had 3 teen age ds's I used to save the left overs from Thanksgiving and make tv dinners for the freezer to eat later. Now that I have 3 teen age ds's I find myself fighting to get enough turkey to make a sandwich the next day.

On New Years day he does a turkey some side dishes and 2000 blackeye peas.

 I take both Christmas and Easter making a ham, potatoes, bread and a few side dishes.

 Every holiday, DS #2 cooks the meat. He is a cook and thinks that he must to that job. Our choices are turkey, pork loin or ham. We usually have two kinds of meat. We feed at least 18 to 20. He does a pomegrante, blood orange stuffing for the pork, a apple onion stuffing for the turkey. The ham , we do with an orange marmalade glaze. Then everyone cooks something to go with the meat. Usually mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, Grandma brocolli casserole, cream corn that is frozen from summer corn, hot bread. Thanksgiving has to have maple winter squash. Dessert varies. Always ice cream. Cold holidays apple or pumpkin pie. Cheesecake or Chocolate Eclair Cake. Im getting hungry just thinking about all the food.  We eat Christmas at my house. Thanks giving and Easter is at DS #1 house.  Babs

Its just the two of us, but on Thanksgiving we do a traditional meal - turkey w/stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green been casserole, sauerkraut (apparently this isn't traditional, but it was a staple Thanksgiving side at my house growing up), peas, jellied cranberry sauce and sometimes baked mac 'n cheese.  I know that sounds like a ton! But we get the smallest turkey we can, and we don't mind the leftovers, that's for sure!  We make turkey salad, stock from the carcass, turkey rice soup with that and freeze extra cooked turkey for later in the year.  I could eat just sides myself, so its not uncommon for me to eat various plates of sides for lunch & dinner for days following Thanksgiving.

 Christmas there's more leeway. We generally stick with ham, but last year had cornish hens.  I might make something altogether different this year.  Christmas I like to go all-out and whip out recipes from Gourmet & Epicurious.  I'm normally planning all the Christmas meals at least a month in advance LOL!  We normally start with a big breakfast, have a brunch around 11:00 of oyster stew (we had this every Christmas morning growing up in my family), then lunch and dinner it just depends.  I love to cook and I love to eat, so Christmas is my time to shine in the kitchen.