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If your family is anything like mine, then holiday excitement has reached a fever pitch! We’ve spent the past few weeks decorating, baking cookies, wrapping, and planning our Christmas menus. With all the busyness of the holiday season, I usually have about a thousand things on my to do list on the days leading up to Christmas with the night before Christmas going late into the night. Sound familiar?
It’s no wonder most caregivers need triple strength coffee to get them through the festivities! We are plumb exhausted by the time Christmas morning rolls around. After such a busy time last year, my husband and I regrouped and realized we need to simplify things this year and have some time to just breathe and take it all in! It goes by so fast and we really want to cherish every moment.
Since we’ll be hosting a Christmas Eve celebration with my husband’s side of the family, complete with two sets of twins under two, we decided to go a little easier on ourselves this year. Instead of our normal seven fishes dinner served on good dinnerware (my family’s tradition), we’ll be having sandwiches on festive paper plates. With our rambunctious group, it’ll be so much easier to have something we can just pick up and eat since most of us need to have one free hand at all times.
There is a local sandwich shop that serves what is called a Bobby: roasted turkey breast, cranberry relish, and stuffing on a hoagie roll. It really is like Thanksgiving between the bread! So we’ll try to recreate this sandwich at home (with the idea in our back pocket that if things become too hectic, we can run over to the hoagie shop). It’s an easy, family friendly sandwich that is perfect for holiday gatherings. If you can’t find hoagie rolls, you can use any other type of long sandwich roll or even plain bread.
Later on, as we set things up we’ll have some easy seafood appetizers like store-bought shrimp cocktail. I can’t have Christmas Eve without seafood. Last year, with all our rushing around last minute with a race to the finish, we almost missed one crucial tradition!
Who can forget the busiest person of all during Christmas, Santa Claus? He needs a cookie snack to help sustain him for his long night of delivering gifts. I had no idea until I had kids of my own how much fun this tradition would be to uphold! On Christmas Eve, our kids delight in making up a little plate of cookies and a glass of milk for the generous and jolly guy, along with some carrots for the reindeer. Although last year we needed to use boxed cookies since we had eaten all of our own creations!
When did this custom of leaving out treats for Santa and his helpers come about? There are different theories that it ether started during the depression era 1930s when American children were encouraged to share with others, or that it goes back further to Norse mythology when children would leave hay and food for an eight legged horse named Sleipner, or to the Dutch custom of leaving hay in their wooden clogs in exchange for treats from Father Christmas.
Different cultures have different traditions. We may have to add on the Irish custom of leaving Santa a stout beer, after all it is part of our shared heritage! So combine some of your favorite family traditions into one crazy Christmas for a simple, yet memorable holiday!
©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/pamela-chester/1214-cookies-and-milk/
Ho Ho Ho and Some Holiday Munchies!
If your family is anything like mine, then holiday excitement has reached a fever pitch! We’ve spent the past few weeks decorating, baking cookies, wrapping, and planning our Christmas menus. With all the busyness of the holiday season, I usually have about a thousand things on my to do list on the days leading up to Christmas with the night before Christmas going late into the night. Sound familiar?
It’s no wonder most caregivers need triple strength coffee to get them through the festivities! We are plumb exhausted by the time Christmas morning rolls around. After such a busy time last year, my husband and I regrouped and realized we need to simplify things this year and have some time to just breathe and take it all in! It goes by so fast and we really want to cherish every moment.
Since we’ll be hosting a Christmas Eve celebration with my husband’s side of the family, complete with two sets of twins under two, we decided to go a little easier on ourselves this year. Instead of our normal seven fishes dinner served on good dinnerware (my family’s tradition), we’ll be having sandwiches on festive paper plates. With our rambunctious group, it’ll be so much easier to have something we can just pick up and eat since most of us need to have one free hand at all times.
There is a local sandwich shop that serves what is called a Bobby: roasted turkey breast, cranberry relish, and stuffing on a hoagie roll. It really is like Thanksgiving between the bread! So we’ll try to recreate this sandwich at home (with the idea in our back pocket that if things become too hectic, we can run over to the hoagie shop). It’s an easy, family friendly sandwich that is perfect for holiday gatherings. If you can’t find hoagie rolls, you can use any other type of long sandwich roll or even plain bread.
Later on, as we set things up we’ll have some easy seafood appetizers like store-bought shrimp cocktail. I can’t have Christmas Eve without seafood. Last year, with all our rushing around last minute with a race to the finish, we almost missed one crucial tradition!
Who can forget the busiest person of all during Christmas, Santa Claus? He needs a cookie snack to help sustain him for his long night of delivering gifts. I had no idea until I had kids of my own how much fun this tradition would be to uphold! On Christmas Eve, our kids delight in making up a little plate of cookies and a glass of milk for the generous and jolly guy, along with some carrots for the reindeer. Although last year we needed to use boxed cookies since we had eaten all of our own creations!
When did this custom of leaving out treats for Santa and his helpers come about? There are different theories that it ether started during the depression era 1930s when American children were encouraged to share with others, or that it goes back further to Norse mythology when children would leave hay and food for an eight legged horse named Sleipner, or to the Dutch custom of leaving hay in their wooden clogs in exchange for treats from Father Christmas.
Different cultures have different traditions. We may have to add on the Irish custom of leaving Santa a stout beer, after all it is part of our shared heritage! So combine some of your favorite family traditions into one crazy Christmas for a simple, yet memorable holiday!
Turkey, Cranberry, and Stuffing Sandwiches
Made with salt and freshly ground black pepper, bread, mayonnaise, turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, lettuce
Made with salt and freshly ground black pepper, bread, mayonnaise, turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, lettuce
Serves/Makes: 8
- 16 slices bread or use hoagie rolls, sliced lengthwise
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 pound thinly sliced roasted turkey
- 4 cups prepared turkey stuffing
- 8 tablespoons cranberry sauce
- lettuce, optional
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Spread each slice of bread or cut side of rolls with the mayonnaise.
Layer turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce on each sandwich with lettuce if desired. Season as needed with salt and pepper.
Top with remaining bread or close the rolls. Slice, if desired, and serve immediately.
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©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/pamela-chester/1214-cookies-and-milk/