A typical Italian-American Christmas Eve dinner is filled with endless amounts of carbs, family laughs, and in this case, my grandmother scolding at everyone to eat more food. 

A traditional Italian-American Christmas Eve dinner follows The Feast of the Seven Fishes, a Roman Catholic custom. The Feast is essentially a typical Sunday Dinner on holiday steroids, with several kinds of seafood spanned over three courses.

Now, let's get started to that lucky number 7.

This picture simply says it all. You have your clams, mussels, scallops, shrimp, crab and anything that was basically once underwater.

That means you have an excuse to eat more calamari.

So crunchy, so crispy, so good. Calamari is served in the appetizer course, so make sure to pace yourself for the other Italian dishes coming your way.

And pizza.

I'm not talking about your average pizza slices. In my family, we get the good stuff from Long Island (the thick Sicilian style Grandma pizzas) and serve it with the fish course.  With over 20 people in attendance to our Christmas Eve dinner, there never seems to be enough of this.

Don't forget the pasta.

This dish is the sun that all of the other dishes revolve around. My grandmother’s family recipe, lobster tails are cooked in a spicy tomato sauce and served over linguine. We put extra hot sauce on the table for those who are extra adventurous. 

So much pasta, so little time-a to stuff it all into my face. 

Just add the whole damn fish, too.

Served with the pizza, we serve sole with lemon on large platters to pass around the table. Is your mouth watering yet?

No one else does Christmas Eve dinner like the Italian-Americans.

Even though Christmas Eve seems like it's all about the food, don't forget that it's also time for family too. So relax, drink some wine, and try to forget this semester ever happened.