Christmas Morning Food Traditions?

We’re staying home for Christmas these days, and with an almost-4 year old who will be eager to get to those presents, I’m in search for a make-ahead or no-cook idea for foods to have out for 4 people to graze on while we open gifts and play with toys.

My childhood Christmas mornings consisted of homemade sticky buns my mom would make–we would devour dozens of them throughout the day.

I’m not looking for something that messy/complicated–just something we can have around to snack on that could become our go-to Christmas morning snack.

I’m interested to read about what you all do–especially those who will (like me) be sleep-deprived from wrapping presents late into the wee hours of the morning.

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Chocolate seems to be the single most common Christmas morning breakfast around here. But I do think that an egg casserole is tasty and can be made ahead of time—I think I managed that on two nonconsecutive Christmases, so I can’t really count it as a tradition.

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Frittata. Make the night befor and slice at room temp in the morning.

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I’m with your mom- we do cinnamon rolls. An egg dish sounds both delicious and wise.
Merry Christmas.

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Chocolate from the stockings is breakfast. Then we graze until mid afternoon. Homemade nuts & bolts make for good grazing. And my gramma’s kitchen table always has a collection of chips, crackers, dips & cheese on it Christmas morning.

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Biscuits and country ham are my breakfast eats when we are at home Christmas day. I do not have littles, so I have the leisure to make a fresh batch of biscuits in the morning. As a child, my mom would get the bags of small doughnuts dredged in powdered sugar and that was breakfast. She would only do this for Christmas morning and road trips.

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Mine is make-ahead, but it bakes on Christmas morning- Out of the fridge and into the oven. It is a french toast strata. Tons of recipes out there on the internet. We are not wedded to one. But we do enjoy assembling it the night before, and making sure there is room in the fridge for its overnight rest.

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When I was a kid we hadstore bought coffee cake - we all knew better but were all watching our weight. It was delicious, however, with a little hint of the forbidden. I would bet that forty years on there is something better out there than Sara Lee. I am sure you will be doing plenty of cooking around the holidays, and maybe your family could content itself with something not home made. KIds being what they are, sometimes the store bought is preferable to them. Personally I love a particular Rugelach from the Farmer’s Market, and there is a Latin specialty pastry also sold there that is completely fabulous. Is there a Farmer’s Market near you?
You will be doing enough. CUt yourself a break. Another childhood favorite was orange juice run through the blender with thawed frozen strawberries. To an adult, unbearably sweet, but your four year old will love it.

Alton’s cinnamon rolls. They have to sit in the fridge overnight though, so prep them Christmas eve. Sometimes I make them with half whole-wheat flour, and a slightly wetter dough so it can rise easily.

Trader Joe’s sells frozen croissants (chocolate and plain) that you leave out overnight to defrost/raise and then bake in the morning. They are delicious!

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We make a strata the night before (pieces of bread layered with cheese, mushrooms and onion, soaked in beaten eggs). It bakes an hour Christmas morning. Mimosas while “opening” our stockings, too!

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We do the Trader Joe croissants every year, and since our kids still have a big appetite (especially the college kid), we often also scramble eggs (beat with milk and add some pre-shredded cheese like Sargento’s).

A big pot of coffee and lots of orange juice rounds out the meal.

Thanks! I won’t be far from Trader Joe’s this morning. I’ll give the croissants a try.

Don’t be disappointed when you open the package. They have lots of yeast and grow impressively overnight. I place them on top of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and cover loosely with Saran Wrap.

Our home can be pretty cool at night, so we stick the tray on top of the TiVo in the tv cabinet. Our oven on its lowest setting is warmer than ideal.

Nice proofing tip - heat from electronics is constant and gentle! :slight_smile:

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Thanks! I got croissants and a cinnamon bun wreath-thing AND a Greek cheesy pie thing. It was amazing–Trader Joe’s wasn’t any busier than a normal day. Thanks for the tip!

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We just finished dinner (I’m in California). Right after doing the dishes, we put the croissants on a tray for warming.

Did you notice all the flavors? The plain mini croissants are excellent, our kids all love the chocolate ones, I’m partial to the almond croissants, and my husband loves the pumpkin flavor.

No matter which variety I make, they all always get eaten!

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They only had chocolate at my TJ’s, but that might be because they had to
make room for so many other holiday treats. I’ll be sure to keep these on
my radar, though.

aka Bread Pudding, a magically dessert-y thing that you can bake in the morning and if you make it with whole grain bread and milk rather than cream you can imagine it has some redeeming nutritional value. My grandchildren loved it with chocolate chips AND syrup.

For the first time this year, we did lox and bagels - a shout out to our friends celebrating Hanukkah, which we do not. I made a clementine cake, garnished with candied orange slices the day before, and it was the perfect combination of savory and sweet. It makes for an easy Christmas morning. Just lay out the lox, onion, tomatoes, cream cheese, capers and bagels with a toaster nearby and it’s help yourself, and perfectly satisfying. The clementine cake was a revelation. There’s just three of us, so it’s lasted until today, but will be gone by morning.

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