Christmas foods vary widely across the U.S., but I can tell you what I made last Christmas (or rather, last Christmas Eve). I made something called a Seven Fishes Feast, where I used seafood in seven different ways. In some cases, I used the same seafood more than once (no, that's not cheating)!
I made the following small plates, which I served in the following order:
1. PissaladiĂšre (a southern French flatbread with anchovies, olives, caramelized onions and herbes de Provence)
2. A crabcake salad with mixed greens, gorgonzola cheese, walnuts, and a homemade balsamic vinaigrette
3. A stew of white beans, tuna, parsley, onions, and garlic
4. Tilapia (or was it flounder?) with ratatouille
5. Lobster mac n' cheese (bought this one frozen--oops)
6. Crab-stuffed salmon with haricots verts (French green beans)
There were six dishes, but there were two fish preparations in the last one (crab meat and salmon). The number of dishes doesn't matter. Neither does the number of unique fishes. What matters is that there are seven different fish preparations.
Some people will put a bunch of fishes into one dish by making a cioppino, a bouillabaise, or a mixed seafood grill. Some people will also do fewer than seven fishes (but not me--I love to cook and to go all-out for holidays haha).
The Feast of the Seven Fishes is originally Italian, but it's also popular in Italian American communities, such as in Philadelphia, where I'm from. Actually, I'm not even Italian, but I grew up around Italians, and I've picked up some Italian traditions in the process haha. I'm not complaining, though; I love Italian-American culture!
Maybe I'll do another Seven Fishes this year, or maybe I'll do something else. I'm still grading my students' final papers, so I haven't quuite gotten that far yet...
What do you eat for Christmas?