The Christmas season is here and as students prepare for the final week of the spring semester, the dining halls are preparing for this year’s holiday dinner.

The dinner is scheduled to take place at 4:30 p.m. in Taylor and 5 p.m. in Thomas.

Mark Hudson, the director of university housing and dining services, said the holiday dinner has been a part of Eastern for decades.

The members of the dining services staff are primarily the one who are tasked with setting up for the dinner.

“The unit directors plan the menus as part of the ongoing menu development process,” Hudson said. “They work on it for several weeks before the event.”

Hudson said the items that are going to be used for the holiday dinners had to be ordered ahead of time.

“Some specialty items have to be ordered months out,” Hudson said. “This year, turkey is harder to get so they had to pre-order it a long time ago.”

Hudson said that though every year the meal does have some repeatable items, they try to find something that would be different, such as different types of salads and desserts.

Taylor Hall dining will be having glazed ham, beef pot roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, noodles, stuffing, seasoned green beans, corn and rolls, and assorted cheesecakes.

The Thomas Hall dining menu will feature similar items, in addition to turkey, buttered noodles, green bean casserole, and pie for dessert.

Hudson said the holiday dinners typically do see a good turnout of students.

“Anyone with a Panther Card can attend. If you have a meal plan, it is just a swipe,” Hudson said. “If you have dining dollars, you can use those and get a 20-percent discount. You can also use cash.”

Hudson also said the dinner always takes place before finals week begins, and students should focus on the fact that it is the holiday season because of the appropriate decorations that will be set in place.

Both dining halls will stop serving the holiday dinner at 8 p.m.

Luis Martinez can be reached at 581-2812 or lpmartinez@eiu.edu