Every year I am flabbergasted by how quickly the holidays arrive, despite that they come every year at the same time. Our December has already been so full of celebrations that we are looking forward to Christmas and then a quiet week at home.

We'll kick off next week's meal plan with the salt-roasted tenderloin that I make every year for Christmas dinner, and then the rest of our week will be simple but celebratory meals that we can enjoy while friends and family stop by throughout the week.

Welcome to This Week's Meal Plan

Planning my weekly meals is a habit I enjoy. Since I'm frequently asked by friends and family what I'm cooking for dinner each week, I thought it'd be useful to share my weekly meal plan here. Whether you're just learning to meal plan and looking for a real-life example of how this works or you're an old pro on the hunt for inspiration, here's a peek at how I'm feeding my family this week.

As is our Christmas tradition, we will be cooking up a salt-roasted beef tenderloin at home. Also on the table will be Southern biscuits, scalloped potatoes, and an easy weeknight winter salad.

We're making plans to go tubing with friends at a local mountain resort, and fondue post sledding just feels like the right thing to do. Plus, it will easily feed a crowd of kids and adults when kitted out with sausages, bread, and vegetables for dipping.

We are not going anywhere or doing anything on this day off, so it feels like the perfect day to slow cook a bunch of onions for soup and cozy up to bowls of this cheesy goodness for dinner. For my onion-averse 6-year-old, I serve just the lush broth with toast and cheese and she doesn't seem to mind the onion flavor she can taste but can't see.

Honestly, this just seems like a very fun dinner dish my kids will love and gets bonus points for being full of veggies. I'm hoping for leftovers to fill out breakfast the next morning too.

We have family flying into town for the holiday weekend, including my young nice and nephew, so pizza Friday will be more like pizza party Friday. We are serving up these pizza tarts alongside a big cheese board, popcorn, and cocktails for a board-game night at home.