What to serve at the annual Christmas Eve party?

tacos!

Chili. Do a vegan one and one with meat.

You can do a couple of lasagnas. Vegetarian and regular. Make them a few days before and let them sit either in the freezer or refrigerator until the big day. Lasagna tastes better when it has time to set up.
Remember, the meal is not the main event. Socializing, visiting, and exchanging gifts is.
Don’t sweat it.

Build your own sandwich with a variety of pita breads and sandwich fillings to choose from.

Thanks everyone. There’s some good ideas- I appreciate the input! :)

@worriedguy If you don’t think the meal is the main event, then you don’t know my family! ;)

@Taciturnu We don’t have a main meal for Christmas eve, just tons and tons of finger food. The big meal is on Christmas day. I really like the idea of all those snackages I can wolf down because they are small and so, less calories.

You can do a Mexican spread with enchiladas (one pan with meat, one pan with vegetables with or without cheese) Then have a big bowl of refried beans (made without lard) have the cheese on the side. A big bowl of tortilla chips and several different kinds of salsa, a bowl of pickled carrots, jalapenos and jicama (which you can either make or buy) and a big green salad with a pepita caesar style dressing like “this“http://www.food.com/recipe/cilantro-pumpkin-seed-dressing-128426 (which you can serve on the side so that the veggies don’t have to eat anchovies and the vegans don’t have to eat cheese). You can have oil and vinegar for the veggies.

This is pretty easy to throw together, if you don’t like to cook you can order it out. Just make sure you get vegetarian/vegan stuff for the folks who need it. You’ll be the host with the most if you do that!

Is this a sit down meal? If so, have you considered evolving it into an appetizer scenario that involves other family members’ contributions?

Plenty of fruit and veggie trays for those who have calorie or vegetarian concerns.

Do a vegetarian lasagna with tomato sauce, spinach and ricotta. Put enough garlic in there and it should be delicious! I mean, if you can’t do ham or a turkey which is what I serve.

Pizza!

What about several kinds of soup, and lots of great bread, with different spreads?

I second the chilis. You can make one or both the day before even. A variety of breads and cheeses, a big salad, yum.

I just went to a xmas party last weekend and I was thrilled she had roasted vegetables, zuchini, carrots, orange and red peppers on a large platter. So nice to see a vegetable not swimming in cheese or sauce. There was also cold kabobs of mozzarella, grape tomatoes, and something else, my memory fails me right now, and some meat dishes like a mushroom chicken dish, shrimp, and some mini sandwiches.

How about some Pabst Blue Ribbon? ;)

To add on to my Medterranian leaning recommendations you could also make a cous cous dish with veggies and almonds in it. Sounds so good. And maybe some hummus and pita, and an eggplant dish.

With such a diverse mix of, ok, we’ll call them picky eaters, (lolol), I say everyone bring a dish or 2 of their preferred type. You can provide the “standard” type stuff and everyone can sample. I do alot of cooking but vegan, lactose issues, etc., would definately be an imposition as I’m not “fluent” in the needs. Those who regularly eat a certain diet, will likely be able to prepare a favorite dish a bit better than you, just from frequency. So, make it easy on yourself. You did say it’s family, so they should be willing to contribute. I’ve gotten so overwhelmed with doing the holiday meals that I said I was getting pizza this year!!! :-) Good luck and enjoy.

Serve spaghetti, french toast and plenty of Michelob Ultra beer. after a bottle or two of Ultra, they will rave on your spaghetti and sing Joy To The World in harmony.

Build Your Own Pizza. Have individual sized pizza shells and lay out dishes of as many things people might put on pizza as you can think of. Have a big bowl of lettuces and a couple bottled dressings for non pizza eaters.They can add the pizza toppings to their salads. Preheat the oven to 420 degrees have each guest bake his own for 15–20 minutes. Have your guests bring appetizers, desserts, and beverages.

Thanks again everyone. I’m starting to think I have a direction! There’s tons of great ideas here.

I think I’ll probably do finger food as suggested by @chyna, or a mediterranean spread as suggested by @JLeslie. (Surprised I didn’t think of that one, with all the people of Mediterranean decent that married into our family! lol)

THANK YOU EVERYONE! :)

@Taciturnu So what time should we be there?

@Kardamom 5 sounds good! You can bring the beer @john65pennington was mentioning, and we’ll drink it in the corner as needed to calm… well… To calm my nerves, anyway! :)

@Taciturnu Good deal, we fluthers can clean up afterwards too : )