Christmas Eve has always been a special holiday to me. I love our family traditions, especially when we share “oplatek” at my grandparents’ house. It’s a Polish tradition, one rooted in the idea of breaking bread with your family at the end of advent. If you want to read more about this tradition, check out this article on NPR.

This year is our second year hosting Christmas Eve in our home. I’ve been planning our menu for weeks (and weeks), which we’ve settled on being cocktail party food. With about 15 people joining us, it will be an easy way to pace our celebration over the course of six hours.

We’ll have a mix of cold and hot appetizers, each hour featuring a small hot dish that serves as the centerpiece. We’re planning on mini quesadillas with scratch made tortillas, mini beef wellington, lamb lollipops, stuffed mushrooms, falafel, chicken skewers and pumpkin soup. It sounds like a lot, but we’ll be serving small portions so everyone can enjoy and graze throughout the day.

Because I’ll be in and out of cooking throughout Christmas Eve, I’ve opted for a simple jeans and tunic outfit. I just picked up these step hem jeans from Nordstrom that are to die for. They have so much stretch, are so super comfy, but also keep their tailored shape. Plus that have the step hem and I’m a total sucker for a raw step hem!

The sparkles on this Free People are the perfect holiday touch! This top really does run large – I would go down at least one size if not two! I do like things to be oversized, especially with jeans, but wish I had sized down.

We’ll be busy and I really want to be able to sit and enjoy our time with family and friends, especially my grandmother and uncle who will be visiting from Michigan. This outfit will be comfortable enough to move around all day and head out to “midnight” mass (why is it at 10PM now?!).

I’d love to hear about your Christmas Eve traditions!