When designing my Christmas Eve meal, I keep in mind that it's the day before a feast. Just a few thoughtful bites, a light dinner, and champagne are all you need. Try serving these appetizers at your Christmas Eve meal: salmon rillettes, gougères, and oysters with mignonette sauce. More

Fruitcake is the most maligned Christmas dessert. Poor thing. But with that reputation comes fun and informative videos! Here are some fruitcake-related videos featuring songs, puppets, guns, recipes, and more. More

After the mad ripping of wrapping paper and the squealing over dream-gifts-come-true, it's time for breakfast. Whether you cook up stack of sourdough waffles (my mother studded hers with local filberts) or a savory strata, a log-cabin of crispy bacon or a platter of caviar-topped scrambled eggs, a festive brunch is in order. Here are a few Serious Eats-approved recipes we've been considering. More

What's the Slaughterhouse? A gingerbread house made of slaughtered animals instead of gingerbread. More specifically, it's made of steak bricks, a ham door, ham windows, a ribs fence, and a candied bacon roof. Non-slaughtered animal components include mashed potato snow, a puff pastry ceiling, and lots of Cheez Wiz. And that's how Epic Meal Time says, "Merry Christmas!" More

[Photograph: NASA.gov] What the astronauts eat as they watch Santa make his rounds: Q: Do you take requests from the astronauts? For holidays, or just in general?A: We can. For every month that the crewmember is in orbit they get what's called a bonus container and they can make special requests, if they have a special candy or cracker or cookie they want to take. But our standard menu includes a lot of traditional holiday foods. Smoked turkey, candied yams, green beans, freeze dried cornbread dressing. The Russian side has really good mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce. So there are foods available for them to make a holiday menu, and if they know they're going to be in orbit... More

[Photograph: Inhae Lee / My Milk Toof] The plump baby teeth stars of photo comic My Milk Toof get into the holiday spirit by making a gingerbread house. Or at least Lardee is making a house—Ickle looks on in horror, as the house bears no resemblance to his professional blueprints. Related Photo of the Day: Cute Teeth Eating Watermelon Video: How To Make an Easy Gingerbread House Environmentally Friendly Gingerbread House... More

"Lincolnshire red cabbage with apple and cranberries, slow braised in red wine and tawny port sauce." In print, that doesn't sound particularly tantalizing. Spoken by a breathy British female narrator over slow-motion footage of the cabbage being dropped out of a spoon, though, is another matter. This commercial from British retailer Marks & Spencer is probably the most food-porny Christmas-related video I've ever seen. Watch the video after the jump.... More

[Photograph: bigdaikon.com] "These people hate Japan, bentos, especially charaben, and kids. They are English teachers in Japan. Surprising—not." http://bit.ly/7ZrCfk —@makiwi, referring to the forum this image was posted on There's some ugly sentiment in the discussion that Makiko Itoh (of Just Bento) links to in that tweet, but the Christmas-themed bento photo posted there is undeniably great. An Old Saint Nick made from rice, a hot dog reindeer, some other stuff I can't identify (is that an egg snowman?). What's not to love about this Japanese character bento (aka charaben)?... More

And goodwill toward men, y'all! [Card: Food Network Humor] LOL. Oh, boy. Food Network Humor's Food Network Christmas cards. See also: "Oh Come All Ye Flay-ful." [via @christellar]... More

I love how the tempura bit looks like a root ball. [Photographs: Christian Seel/Alinea Mosaic] On the Alinea Mosaic forum, chef and photographer Christian Seel describes the technique and thinking behind Alinea's holiday-season tempura goose course. A layer of goose-infused stuffing is topped with a piece of cured and sous-vided goose breast, which is in turn topped off with an armagnac-plum purée. All that is skewered on a juniper sprig, battered, and fried in fat rendered earlier from the geese. The juniper is warmed in the salamander broiler just before serving to release its aroma. [via @gachatz]... More