works-for-me wednesday *Casual Christmas Dinner*

This year, I'm playing hostess for my family Christmas gathering. Since Addyson's immune system is still so weak, we try not to take her out to large family gatherings (or anywhere that we don't have to!). So, this year, we've decided to have some family in from out of town to celebrate Christmas a bit early with us. My parents, my maternal grandparents, and my paternal grandma will be visiting from about 2 1/2 hrs away... not too long of a drive for a one day event. We don't see them as often as we'd like, so this was a good opportunity to have them over. Since they won't be staying too long, I wanted it to be a casual celebration. We don't do many gifts... actually, they only get gifts for Addy now, which is great. We've gone together with my sister and her family and made each of them photo calendars with Addy & Grace's photos through the year. My mom always used to make Italian Beef Sandwiches for Christmas, so I wanted to carry the tradition. Each grandma is bringing a dessert and one grandma is bringing macaroni salad. I thought I'd serve chips too. (I mean, hey, it's casual and we're having sandwiches!) I wanted to have some munchies for sitting around and I thought I'd make two different snack mixes (a savory and a sweet). I'm throwing in a fresh fruit platter too, just so we seem healthy! Easy stuff, most of which can be done a day ahead of time. Since they are coming on Sunday, it gives us plenty of time on Saturday. So, the task of searching for the perfect recipes... where else do I search? Allrecipes.com is always my go-to. I LOVE that they rate each recipe and there are always lots of commenters posting about what changes they made to make it better. I always look at how many reviews each got and how many changes each reviewer had to make to consider it perfect. Here are the recipes I'll be attempting this weekend:
Caramel Snack Mix - with so many high marks, this one can't fail!
Reindeer Snack Mix - seems to be a great savory snack mix
Fruit Dip II - to be served with strawberries, cherries, grapes, pineapple, and granny smiths
Slow Cooker Italian Beef for Sandwiches - to be served on hoagie rolls with provolone cheese

So, a casual Christmas dinner, Allrecipes.com, and hundreds of yummy reviews work for me. Read works-for-me wednesday to catch what works for others this holiday season!