Let’s face it — Christmas can be stressful. Kids get bored and start to fight … You have to drive to the mall for a forgotten present … Relatives drop in without warning … and then, there’s dinner to make!

Don’t worry because there are lots of ways to do it faster and easier. You can serve a great menu that looks like it took hours to prepare, but didn’t.

Here are some main dishes to please your family and guests:

• Turkey: If you’re cooking turkey for the holidays, choose one that’s fresh and not frozen. Then you won’t have to spend hours thawing it.
• Prime rib: Many people like prime rib (look for a standing rib roast in the meat case). Accentuate your dinner with green beans, potatoes, rolls and butter, and dessert, of course — this will be plenty.
• Ham: Ham is another favorite. If you’re one of them, get a partially cooked one. Then all you’ll need to do on Christmas Day is finish the cooking.

Of course, it’s the sides that make the meal complete:

• Turkey stuffing: Make turkey stuffing during the day on Christmas Eve. Bag it and keep it in the fridge until you stuff the bird in the morning.
• Cranberry sauce: Canned cranberry sauce will taste homemade with a few tablespoons of apricot or orange preserves added to it
• Bread: Use ready-made biscuits or rolls that take just minutes to heat. Or prepare dough a week in advance and make the bread a day or two before Christmas. Keep them in a bag until you’re ready to serve.
• Vegetables: Frozen vegetables are as good as, and sometimes better than, fresh. Try dressing them up – sprinkle green beans with thinly sliced almonds; cook carrots with a few teaspoons of brown sugar; squirt some orange juice on beets and top with a few skinny strips of the peel.
• Appetizers: Keep guests out of the kitchen by putting out a big platter of cheese, fresh veggies and store-bought dip for them to munch on before dinner. Clean and cut broccoli, red and green peppers, carrots and celery into bite-sized pieces; keep radishes whole, but cut off both ends.

Put all of the veggies in a plastic and refrigerate until needed. Remove cheeses from the fridge an hour before serving to soften them.

Make your fantastic dessert fantastically easy:

• Pie crusts: Bake your favorite pie with a ready-made piecrust. You’ll not only save time, but won’t have a big mess to clean up.
• Cake decoration: Decorate a bakery-bought cake with shredded coconut or sliced strawberries. Or put a small bunch of holly on top, tied with a ribbon.
• Christmas sundaes: End Christmas dinner with no-work, make-your-own sundaes. Put out different flavors of ice cream, small bowls of toppings like red and green sprinkles, chocolate chips, different colored gumdrops, cherries and nuts, and big bowls of whipped cream and chocolate fudge sauce.

With these ideas, there’s no reason your Christmas can’t be wonderful and easy.