Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Well Christmas has come and gone and we'll do it all over again in 12 months. We had a great Christmas with our families, and in fact will do a little more celebrating today and tomorrow. This is a recap of all of the food we ate:

The Dish Washer's Family (2 gatherings)

Ham
Dressing
Three Bean Salad (I found the recipe and will post later.)
Cranberry Sauce
Sweet Potato Casserole (more like a souffle)
Peas
Crockpot Macaroni and Cheese
Grape Salad
Strawberry Pretzel Salad
Bread
French Silk Pie
Lemonade Pie
Pound Cake
Peppermint Cake
Fudge
Yummy Cheese dip and chips for after we opened presents

I didn't have to take anything! My mother in law had all of the food, but she did allow me to help her the Saturday night before our Sunday gathering. I also got to go to their church's Christmas dinner theater that night and we had French onion soup, salad, prime rib, baked potatoes, dinner rolls and cheesecake! Writing all of this food really makes me feel guilty for eating so much! :)

We also got to participate in Family Communion this year because they changed it from Christmas eve to the Sunday before Christmas. Their church does it where each family goes in as a group one by one and participates in The Lord's Supper together. There were 17 of us from This Dish Washer family there. It was very special.
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Crockpot Chicken Spaghetti (YUMMY!)
Green Bean Casserole (made by The Dish Washer and not your mama's)
Salad
Bread
Leftover desserts from above gathering

This was our gathering on Christmas day. We were able to bring the green bean casserole. When I make it, I usually use the traditional recipe. When The Dish Washer makes it, he adds this and that to it and it is so good, but unfortunately there is no recipe that goes with it. He is good at that kind of thing. I am a pretty strict recipe follower. There isn't even a picture of the casserole because my battery died. Hopefully Kim will share her recipe for chicken spaghetti for later.

My Family (Christmas Eve)

Turkey
Ham
Dressing
Giblet Gravy (that turned out very good this year!)
Cranberry Sauce
Sweet Potato Casserole
Squash Casserole
Macaroni and Cheese
Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad
Strawberry Pretzel Salad
Lady's Green Beans
Pea Salad
Devilled Eggs
Dinner Rolls
Four Layer Delight
Sausage Cheese Dip (for munching)

WHOA NELLY! That is a lot of food! There were certainly a lot of mouths to feed, so honestly I don't feel like I overate like I could have. (Maybe I am just trying to justify it in my mind.) :)

I made this salad, the Four Layer Delight and the Sausage Cheese Dip. I have added several pictures to the recipes if they didn't already have a picture. I forgot to take pictures until we had already fixed our plates, which is why you have "after" shots.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

2 c. crushed pretzels
1-1/2 sticks butter, melted
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
3/4 c. sugar
1 (8 0z.) carton Cool whip
2 (3 oz.) pkgs. strawberry Jello
2 c. boiling water
1 (16 oz.) pkg. frozen strawberries, sliced
1 small can crushed pineapple

Preheat the oven to 400. For the crust, mix the pretzels, butter and 3 Tbsp. sugar. Press into 9x13 baking dish. Bake for 7 minutes and set aside to cool. Beat together cream cheese and 3/4 c. sugar. Fold in cool whip. Spread over completely cooled crust. Refrigerate until well chilled. Dissolve the Jello in the boiling water; cool slightly. Add the strawberries and pineapple, and pour over the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate until serving time.