Christmas is 2 days away!!! Thank god for Amazon Prime as the rest of the Christmas gifts should show up soon. That 2 day shipping is a life-saver! (#procrastinator) Now on to food! John and I are hosting Christmas Eve dinner and I’ve been looking up some recipes to go with. We are splitting the food prep up with my mom and John’s mom. I’m doing an app, the main course, and a side dish. So the salad, another side, and dessert are up to the moms! It should be an excellent round-up of delicious eats between the three of us!

Drinks

John loves margaritas, and so do I. Although we will be serving a ton of wine, I can bet that John would love a cocktail by the end of the night! And that’s where a cranberry margarita can come in. Plus festive and easy and delicious.

Appetizer

These cranberry baked brie bites look so festive! And they are labeled “super easy” which works for me :) John LOVES brie so this will be a sure hit with him. I like the little addition of the cranberry and basil for the red and green. So cute!

Here is another alternative with brie. This cranberry pistachio baked brie also looks delicious! I like the saltiness of the pistachio added. YUM

And lastly these caprese skewers are easy to prep beforehand and also festie! I think I’ll do these. I love mozzarella!

Main Course

Our neighbor gifted us a ham so I’m definitely going with that! I decided on the recipe from The Pioneer Woman – I have always LOVED every recipe I use of hers and so I knew I couldn’t go wrong with a basic glazed ham recipe from her. It sounds sooooo yummy and I love ham! Especially ham sandwiches or turning the leftover ham into a potato ham soup (I use this recipe, soooo freaking good!).

Side Dish

There are a million recipes for potatoes au gratin, I really liked this one because the creme fraiche sounds really delicious, but she uses milk and makes it lighter, and honestly, I love cream, and so that made me weary. But it’s a good lighter version if you’re into that! ;) But I’m not. Haha, so I’m going with Pioneer Woman’s (again, sorry! She’s just soo good!) perfect potatoes au gratin.

Place Setting

John’s Mom is AMAZING at table settings! And I’ve really begun to notice in my older age how beautiful it really is when the table is festive and gorgeous. I’m only starting to accumulate holiday decor so I don’t have much. I found this super easy and simple place setting with rosemary. I like that it looks like a pine branch, which you could use too, and I might. But I like the simple white card with all caps letters. Really pretty. And the smell will be invigorating!

Table Decor

Again, I don’t have much decor yet. But I DO have a TON of mason jars! And we have the beautiful blue ones from our wedding so I think I will use those. I am just going to fill them with cranberries, candles, and some pine like this picture. Also, if you’re looking for a candle – THIS is the BEEEEESSSTTTT!!!! They sell it at Zandroz downtown if you’re out and about. Or this candle I have too and is really good and they have it at Target if you’re last minute.

Now for tons of grocery shopping and food prep today! Oh AND cleaning! We have had quite the construction going on lately with new paint everywhere, bathroom remodel, new backsplash in the kitchen, and we completed our wine cellar. So we’ve finally kicked everyone out for the time being and TIME TO CLEAN! EEEK!

Good luck to you hosts out there! It’s hard work! But rewarding when everyone devours your food :)

Merry Christmas!