Putting together the best Christmas dinner requires as much thoughtful planning as buying the perfect gifts. You want to make sure everything is just right, and that means choosing a showstopping main dish, like a juicy roast, plus incredible sides to round out the spread. Vegetables and salads are both great complementary options, especially when you're making a Christmas ham. Thanks to its festive colors, this pasta salad will shine bright on your holiday table. For the vibrant green dressing, we jazzed up traditional basil pesto with spinach and almonds. A couple of tablespoons of white wine vinegar go into the whole dish for extra tang. The pesto can be made three days ahead and refrigerated in an airtight container.

Bacon makes everything better, especially tender green beans. Top the veggies with creamy goat cheese and sweet dried cranberries for a dish that hits all the right notes.

Cheesy, crispy edges are the best part of scalloped potatoes — and using a spiralizer will give you a lot more of them. Cutting the potatoes this way makes it easy to serve everyone their own potato and creates uniform pieces that will cook at the same rate.

Valerie’s impressive potatoes are deceptively simple. After baking the buttery potatoes, place them on a platter and top the whole thing with crunchy crumbled pistachios.