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As we gather together with friends and family each year at holiday time to celebrate the season, we honor family traditions that have been passed down for years. After all the busyness of the season, all the bustling, planning and preparation, things calm down and we hope to relax and make a few precious memories with our loved ones, many of them involving food.
Christmas Day is no time to rush. Whatever tradition you follow, whether your meal is an elegant formal menu, or dinner from the local Chinese restaurant, or a midnight snack following another busy workday, it’s a day to pause and reflect on all that you cherish in your life.
With my young family, as new traditions get added to old ones, the question becomes how to pull off all of these family traditions each year. Nostalgia plays an important part in holiday celebrations, so of course we want to preserve some of those very same things we did each year as kids. Psychological studies have shown that feelings evoked by nostalgia can ease loneliness, decrease stress, and even make one feel warmer. They aren’t called heartwarming memories for nothing!
That sense of longing for the past can explain why all those sentimental seasonal foods like cheese balls, roast turkey and stuffing, gingerbread, candy canes, plum pudding and homemade pie grace our menus throughout the season. My husband longs for the pizza he and his family enjoyed each Christmas Eve.
Nostalgia may even rationalize why many a Jello casserole continue to make an appearance on holiday tables, even when the rest of the menu may be much more modernized. Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without these foods!
Oyster stew is another holiday dish that makes the Christmas rounds on many tables, especially in the Northeast. Our family recipe is so simple and got passed down from my Great Aunt Sue. It’s just the right combination of plump oysters, butter and half and half, with a touch of seasoned salt. I like to use the oysters found refrigerated in a sealed container but canned oysters work as well. No vegetables, and nothing else to mess with the flavor. We eat it as a simple lunch accompanied by oyster crackers.
There are a few more foods that evoke the spirit of the holiday season for my family: a hearty Christmas brunch, artichoke dip, and lots of chocolate. I also like to prepare a big batch of the Italian holiday soup (or wedding soup) that I enjoyed while visiting at my closest friend’s house each Christmas. It’s a chicken soup loaded with meatballs and escarole, and is comfort in a bowl.
Then there’s the Silver Spoon Red and Green Christmas salad (Spinach, avocado, and pomegranate) my mother makes every year. And tons of homemade cookies. We have to fit all this food in somewhere, plus there are always new recipes to try. Christmastime for the food obsessed is like being a kid in the candy store, or Santa’s workshop! It’s a wonder we can even fit through the door by New Years.
What’s on your cooking wish list this Christmas?
©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/1322-holiday-dishes/
A Christmas Cooking Wish List
As we gather together with friends and family each year at holiday time to celebrate the season, we honor family traditions that have been passed down for years. After all the busyness of the season, all the bustling, planning and preparation, things calm down and we hope to relax and make a few precious memories with our loved ones, many of them involving food.
Christmas Day is no time to rush. Whatever tradition you follow, whether your meal is an elegant formal menu, or dinner from the local Chinese restaurant, or a midnight snack following another busy workday, it’s a day to pause and reflect on all that you cherish in your life.
With my young family, as new traditions get added to old ones, the question becomes how to pull off all of these family traditions each year. Nostalgia plays an important part in holiday celebrations, so of course we want to preserve some of those very same things we did each year as kids. Psychological studies have shown that feelings evoked by nostalgia can ease loneliness, decrease stress, and even make one feel warmer. They aren’t called heartwarming memories for nothing!
That sense of longing for the past can explain why all those sentimental seasonal foods like cheese balls, roast turkey and stuffing, gingerbread, candy canes, plum pudding and homemade pie grace our menus throughout the season. My husband longs for the pizza he and his family enjoyed each Christmas Eve.
Nostalgia may even rationalize why many a Jello casserole continue to make an appearance on holiday tables, even when the rest of the menu may be much more modernized. Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without these foods!
Oyster stew is another holiday dish that makes the Christmas rounds on many tables, especially in the Northeast. Our family recipe is so simple and got passed down from my Great Aunt Sue. It’s just the right combination of plump oysters, butter and half and half, with a touch of seasoned salt. I like to use the oysters found refrigerated in a sealed container but canned oysters work as well. No vegetables, and nothing else to mess with the flavor. We eat it as a simple lunch accompanied by oyster crackers.
There are a few more foods that evoke the spirit of the holiday season for my family: a hearty Christmas brunch, artichoke dip, and lots of chocolate. I also like to prepare a big batch of the Italian holiday soup (or wedding soup) that I enjoyed while visiting at my closest friend’s house each Christmas. It’s a chicken soup loaded with meatballs and escarole, and is comfort in a bowl.
Then there’s the Silver Spoon Red and Green Christmas salad (Spinach, avocado, and pomegranate) my mother makes every year. And tons of homemade cookies. We have to fit all this food in somewhere, plus there are always new recipes to try. Christmastime for the food obsessed is like being a kid in the candy store, or Santa’s workshop! It’s a wonder we can even fit through the door by New Years.
What’s on your cooking wish list this Christmas?
Oyster Stew
Made with seasoned salt, oysters, half and half, butter, kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, paprika
Made with seasoned salt, oysters, half and half, butter, kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, paprika
Serves/Makes: 6
- 1 quart oysters in their liquid
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 quart half and half
- kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
- 1 pinch paprika
- 1 pinch seasoned salt
Combine oysters with liquid and butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, and bring to a simmer for two minutes.
Add half and half and season to taste. Cook until just heated through and oysters are cooked. 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/1322-holiday-dishes/