What Families Ate During Christmas | In The 1970s

[@rogertemple7193]

For my Christmas dinners as a kid it was what we could afford and instead of turkey we had baked ham, chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes, gravy, various veggies, pecan and pumpkin pies unless we went to relatives houses, have a wonderful holidays everyone and thank you.😋🍗🥧🍰🍖😋

[@pattypetty9615]

We had honey glazed ham or glazed ham much more affordable! And pretty much everyone I know did also! Turkey was Thanksgiving & the stuffing never came from a box I learned from my mom how to season stuffing you can smell it when it has enough! No measurements! The cranberry sauce Thanksgiving too! Usually Zucchini bread or banana nut bread! In the Zucchini bread add walnuts & chocolate chip's or one or the other!

[@LovingShadow-e3k]

What I do like about this video is it's giving great ideas for the upcoming Holiday. And with KZbin it's easy to find the recipes .

[@crimesforgottenbytime]

❤

[@ekramer2478]

Now wants to prime rib

[@retroguy9494]

I'm a 60 year old bachelor and my family is all gone now so I'm all alone. However, I well remember our holiday dinners. For Christmas breakfast, instead of crumb cake we had poppyseed loaf and cheese buns. Dinner was always turkey with the herb stuffing, VERY simple (just bread, onion, parsley and celery) always made by my grandmother. She made the glazed ham for either Easter or mother's day. Of course we also had the cranberry sauce and she also made the candied yams. From scratch you know. We also had mashed potatoes and gravy. We never had soup or an appetizer like shrimp cocktail because my grandmother and the rest of the family felt we had enough food without them. And we DID! I ate that way until the late 1990's when death broke the family apart. I learned from my grandmother and every Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter I cooked a full meal for my father just like the meals I grew up on in the '70's. I did that until 2020 when he had to go into an assisted living due to Alzheimer's. I lost him last year...just before Christmas. He was pretty much the last one left at 94.

[@rebeccataravonschleinitz]

I'm very sorry for your loss. And I hope you will find good company this year.

[@jujube8067]

We still do the turkey and stuffing which is the same as your stuffing, nice and simple but we do have ham as well, we just don’t cook one anymore. On Christmas Eve we buy some slices at a deli since there aren’t too many of us left to eat a whole ham. You should see if any friends or neighbours are alone and get a few together and have a Christmas lunch or dinner. One can bring the mashed potatoes, one can make the stuffing, one can cook a chicken. 🐔

[@aliceinstitches471]

Cook for friends...single, couples, or see what you can do to help out at a Senior Center, or other kitchens that cook for those who need a hot meal.

[@ekramer2478]

Most sincere condolences. I am only 56 but everyone has passed on. I still will do holiday meals though for me and friend :)

[@tisherbug27]

Bless you! So sorry for your loss. It is so hard when the family becomes less and less around the table.

[@jackinorrid5001]

Thank you for sharing!

[@AnnieFerrigno]

My family has been eating the same traditional food every year since I was a little girl, and I passed it to my children, and my children has passed it to their mashed potatoes, gravy, the traditional holiday food

[@dawnvega383]

Loved prime rib!!! We would get a side of beef every year and we always had venison from the hunt and sent to the same butcher. We still wore hand me downs and lean budgets but always had full bellies.

[@dawnvega383]

Pumpkin bread, muffins, chocolate chip pumpkin cookies are at our house starting in September to late January! Pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve and pecan pie, too!

[@RobertHowe-zv7gs]

At age 75 I can tell you that they ate the same foods in 1974 that we eat in 2024.

[@PaulaHolmes-v9j]

I Remember those Christmases, when we got up in the morning, you could smell the turkey. My Mum would get up at 4am to get it ready, we would have at least 15 for dinner😊

[@TaxusBaccata-c4n]

My mother always made mince pie. She used a mix (Nonesuch) that was sold in the stores. I've made mince pie filling from scratch using whiskey. No suet or meat allowed!

[@dawnvega383]

I thought mince meat pies or empanadas had meat and raisins.🤷‍♀️

[@karenvollhoffer668]

We always had a big turkey that my mother would roast in the oven for hours and hours. She would awake at 5am and start. When us children would wake up, the aromas would fill the house. Her homemade stuffing was the best part for me, slathered in gravy.

[@randydelaney7053]

Those are Muscles not Clams. I love them both though. I remember we always had Eggs and Bacon in the mornings at X mass time I can almost smell the aroma of it right now. Turkey and Cranberry Sauce for dinner. I was born in 73 so I don't remember much about X Masses back in the decade, too young but I miss it now. Thanks and Happy Holidays to come.

[@randydelaney7053]

I for a little while use to enjoy Jagger Nog. Egg Nog spiked with Jägermeister, lots of Jager but not to much for then a cinnamon stick to go with it. I had that on X mass eve. I hate Egg nog now and I don't drink.

[@rebeccataravonschleinitz]

And they are also not "muscles". They are mussles. 🙃 Nevermind that one of the pictures of "cranberries" was of red currants... Of course, the mispronunciation of so many words by the computer voiceover doesn't help either. So. My Grinch tirade is done. And I am looking forward to our family fest!

[@LisaLoo212]

They are Mussels.

[@rebeccataravonschleinitz]

@@LisaLoo212 Serves me right for being a (very poor) smartass! 🤪

[@michelleb7399]

All these pics you show with families with crowns on… I’ve never known of that tradition until I read the Harry Potter books. Then I thought it was strictly a British tradition. I never heard of fellow Americans having those. I’ve only seen the Christmas popper things readily available around my area in recent years. Goes to show that our Christmas traditions really vary.

[@jujube8067]

I’m Canadian and we have always had Christmas crackers. It would not be the same without them.

[@michelleb7399]

@ I wish it had been part of my family tradition! And I never even saw them in stores until the past couple decades. It seems so much fun!

[@jujube8067]

@@michelleb7399 You and another pull the ends and it snaps. You get a paper hat/crown, a riddle or joke and a small prize such as a key chain, small puzzle, pen, etc.

[@michelleb7399]

@ yeah, I’ve read about them in Harry Potter and other books. When I first read about them, I thought it was something made up for the Hogwarts or wizarding world. But then I saw them in some movie and read about them in other books. :) Ty

[@jethal]

0:52 - those are raspberries being picked.. lol

[@fredrika27]

Currents were also shown!

[@CharleneMoore-u5p]

I'm from the South, and the only thing shown on this video that we ate was glazed carrots. We were all about the ham and macaroni and cheese.

[@melissacooper8724]

Most of the Christmases I remember we either had ham or a beef roast. I think I served turkey at my Christmas as a newlywed. However, on Christmas of 2022 we had jambalaya. Then on Christmas 2023 we had chop suey. I know that's not traditional holiday food, but my family wanted to do something different.

[@pattypetty9615]

Never heard of these things when i was growing up at christmas in the 70's and my teenage years were in the 70's! I've heard of these thing's but not as Christmas traditions!

[@dianeknight4839]

This all from the US, people in the UK just did not and still do not eat these things. Egg Nog and Pumpkin cake are unique to the US. Our Christmas Dinner eaten around 1 - 2pm consists of : Soup (usually cream of vegetable) served with a crusty bread roll. Turkey & Beef, 2 types of stuffing, Pigs in blankets (susauge wrapped in bacon not pastry) Roast and mashed potatoes, 3 veg (usually carrots,sprouts and peas), cranberry sauce, horseradish sauce and turkey gravy, sometimes Yorkshire pudding. This is followed by Christmas Pudding with Rum custard. For those who do not like it there is usually ice cream. We have no room for anything else.

[@deespence8629]

I grew up in Phoenix and we had tamales for our Christmas dinner. Never store bought and always home made.

[@dawnvega383]

The bright hues are also dyes in so many 1970s foods!

[@julied6322]

The only time in the 70s that we had prime rib was once a year when our parents would bring home a slice of it from the company Christmas party. My dad worked at one of the more expensive restaurants in town. We couldn't afford to eat there and we definitely couldn't afford prime rib no matter what kind of sale they had. We had dry turkey. I didn't learn to cook from my mom. I learned from my mother in law. She was the best. So now no dry turkey or lumpy gravy here. And still can't afford prime rib.

[@stephaniemccord6100]

I still go with turkey and prime rib if I save up for it.

[@ginadoyle4089]

Never had any of this stuff on Christmas. Where’s the lasagna?

[@melissacooper8724]

Was lasagna your family's Christmas tradition?

[@conniebaughman9894]

Why not we had it at Easter after all the holidays heavy meals and going to church at times it's our choice.​@@melissacooper8724

[@dawnvega383]

I swear he sounds like Jim Parsons!

[@julienielsen3746]

Never heard of a lot of these. We just had a plain turkey dinner.

[@carlinglin7289]

"Sometimes crab"? Cioppino always has crab, and sometimes other seafood.

[@debbiewalton2719]

I’ve never heard of stroganoff for Christmas, or any special breakfast. No custard or meringue. Pumpkin pie and fruitcake. Never heard of fish stew on Christmas and I’m from San Francisco! I’m having prime rib this year! I don’t know anyone who had these other foods on Christmas.

[@annsalty5615]

I must have been in a different part of the country as most these dishes, other than turkey, we never had.

[@conniebaughman9894]

What about wild game, baked ham with pineapple rings with cherries and spices. Or a cheaper meat on a more budget house hold .

[@fredrika27]

What I find so sad about this video is that they left out mashed potatoes, greens, green beans, biscuits, corn, corn bread, banana pie/pudding and bread pudding. They hit the East and West Coasts along with the Midwest, but completely left the South and Pacific West out as if these places didn't exist. 😤

[@YourMamaCat]

@fredrika27 seriously. Would a little sweet potato pie have hurt?

[@jujube8067]

The only thing one your list we had/have is the mashed potatoes.

[@fredrika27]

@jujube8067 So true! They named a lot of things that were meat 🍖 dishes but forgot the sides are equally important!

[@jujube8067]

@@fredrika27 Love the sides!

[@fredrika27]

@jujube8067 My siblings and I would fight over the yams with marshmallows!!!🤣🤣🤣🥰🥰🥰

[@LARSAKER-tr1mw]

SORRY. BUT. BE--ING SWEEDISH DECENT. I HAVE. SWEEDISH MEATBALLS. NEVER OUNCE HAD TURKEY. AT / FOR. CHRISTMAS