Appetizers for Christmas Eve

Finger foods are planned for our Christmas Eve celebration this year.  The anticipation of an extra large Christmas dinner helped us to plan an easy, casual approach to Christmas Even dinner.  So no rushing in the kitchen, no formal sitting, just time to get the kids ready for bed, have Santa's cookies and milk in place, head outside to sprinkle a little Reindeer food!  The Big Guy and I are in charge of Christmas Eve dinner.  On our menu is:
Boiled Shrimp with cocktail sauce
Crab dip with crackers
Bacon Water Chestnut Wraps
Vegetable Trip with Dip
Meatballs
Focaccia Bread

Shrimp are very easy to boil!  Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Drop shrimp into water.  Check on the shrimp after a minute.  When the shrimp begin to rise to the top of the water, they are done - typically 2-3 minutes depending on how many you have in the pot.  Turn off the heat.  Drain shrimp into a strainer.

Cocktail Sauce - making homemade cocktail sauce is simple. 
Ketchup - 3/4 cup
Horseradish - 2-3 tablespoons (more if you like it hot and spicy, less if you don't)
Grate onion - 2 tablespoons
Worcestershire sauce - 2 tablespoons
Lemon juice - 1 tablespoon
Mix all the above together.  Consider this a guide, you can adjust to your taste.

Crab Dip
Cream Cheese - 8 oz
Mayonnaise - 1 cup
Grated onion - 4 tablespoons
Mustard - 2 tablespoons
Cooking Sherry or White wine - 3/4 cup
Worcestershire - 4 tablespoons
Crab meat - 8 oz

Melt cream cheese in a pan on cooktop on Medium Heat.  Add mayo, onion, mustard, and Worcestershire  Stir well.  Add Cooking Sherry or White wine (I often use wine as it is already open).  Heat thoroughly for 3 minutes till it begins to bubble.  Add crab meat.  Let heat for another 5 minutes on Medium Low.
We like to add a few dashes of hot sauce as well.  Serve with crackers, warm.

Meatballs
These are so easy it's truly ridiculous!  Equal parts Ketchup and Grape jelly.  Blend the two together till smooth.  Put the two in either a crockpot or in a pot on the cooktop.  In the crock pot, heat on High for at least 4 hours along with Meatballs.  I use the precooked frozen ones.  You can easily substitute Turkey Meatballs as well.  On the cooktop, heat on Medium High heat along with Meatballs for about 20 minutes, stirring often.  Enjoy!