Our mum enjoys cooking and pretty much always serves the same menu for Christmas dinner: turkey with her famous stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, pickles, green salad, her famous Jell-O salad, Brussels sprouts, another veggie of some sort, bread, and cranberry sauce, with assorted Christmas cookies and candy for dessert. But, she has a few tricks up her sleeve for making things easier:
1. She usually picks up a "utility" turkey. These are cheaper, and usually boast a minor problem such as a wing missing or something. Nothing serious enough to impact the taste, but just enough of an issue that it can't be sold as a "prime" turkey.
2. She makes most of the Christmas cookies and goodies herself, but she starts weeks in advance. She makes a list of everything she wants to make, prepares it in advance, and then freezes it. The one shortcut she does take in this regard is to use frozen tart shells for her butter tarts, rather than making her own from scratch. They still taste good and they're so much easier than trying to make tart shells. She also buys bags of Christmas candy, usually items such as candy canes, mints, and chocolate balls. She puts a few of these on the cookie tray in addition to the Christmas cookies.
3. She makes many of her dishes the night before. For example, she always makes her stuffing the evening before. Not only does this cut down on work the day of, but it also makes it taste better as the herbs have a chance to soak into the bread. She also makes her Jell-O salad the evening before as that will keep nicely in the fridge overnight. I think sometimes she makes her cranberry sauce the day before, too.
4. We usually eat Christmas dinner around 2 p.m. This gives the morning for church and people can have a small snack if they're hungry. It also means that dinner is kind of every man for himself in case anyone's still hungry.
Mum also makes sure to use up all the leftovers. She saves the turkey carcass and uses it to make soup. The turkey that's been sliced (she always pre-carves the turkey and just brings the platter to the table, rather than having it carved at the table) can be used for sandwiches or eaten as is. One of my favourite leftovers is a turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce.
We also eat Christmas dinner on the good china, crystal, and silverware, the set that my parents received for their wedding. Mum says it's important to make sure you use the good stuff, because otherwise, what are you saving it for? (Little ones still get plastic cups, just in case something gets dropped, but they get the good china plates and nice silverware too.)