Sorry! Another Christmas Dinner one!

[SongforSal]

Anyone else thinking of breaking away from the 'norm' this year?

I'm 37 and have cooked a traditional Christmas dinner since I was 17. In fairness, DP did it last year after I told him I was sick of the stress, cooking, and organisation of it for everyone.

This year, it will only be myself, DP and our kids. Dd 19, is a vegetarian. DS 14 isn't a massive fan of meat. This will be just the 4 of us this Christmas, and I am thinking of breaking away from the whole stress of festive food and doing the following;

Christmas Breakfast- Breakfast Pastries.

Christmas Dinner-Massive Chinese Takeaway (Buy the day before and re-heat.)

Pudding-Chocolate Fudge cake and ice cream.

It's no stress, prep, a quarter of the cost at least. Anyone else?

I don't think the vegan bit is a cop out but the Chinese takeaway is.

I get why you don't want to do a big traditional Christmas dinner, but I'll be blunt: reheated Chinese food sounds pretty terrible.

Nooo! It’s Christmas Day. Turkey, sprouts and all the trimmings. Followed by pudding, cheese and then groaning at the thought of turkey, cranberry, mayo sandwiches later on. It’s one day and should be a glorious fest of over eating, arguing over a board game and drinking more than normal. Well, it is in our house anyway. Although If you fancy a chilled out day of a re-heated takeaway then that’s your choice and go for it.

Reheated takeaway on Christmas Day?! Umm, well I won’t be popping round but if you think that’s nice...

I think there are better no effort options than a reheated takeaway. Cook has some really nice frozen stuff.

I'm not particularly a fan of reheated chinese, but absolutely have whatever you want! We've previously had: an all dessert lunch (amazing), all day party food, super easy cheat roast courtesy of M&S, and lobster thermidor (ds was obsessed by buying a lobster out of the tank in the fishmonger) as well as a more full on traditional dinner. Sometimes, gasp, we haven't decided until a couple of days before Christmas!

Sounds great. Sod what anyone else thinks, do what you want.

I never know what the fuss is about with Christmas dinner. It's so bloody easy. Stick a turkey in the oven. Later on, stick some red cabbage, potatoes and pigs in blankets in the oven. Steam some carrots and sprouts. Done. The only bit of faff is making gravy and you can buy good quality ready made if you want.

Reheated greasy takeaway from the day before sounds incredibly grim as a celebration dinner - but we can all eat what we want so if you want it, go for it

Stick a turkey in the oven. Later on, stick some red cabbage, potatoes and pigs in blankets in the oven

Not so much if you’re veggie.

Do you do your red cabbage in the oven? I’ve never baked it before. How do you do it?

I never see my husband on Xmas day as he spends ages in the kitchen cooking the Xmas dinner. No... I’m not allowed to help as he is the chef in the house.
I would love just to have pjs , pizza with all the trimmings , lots of films and chocolate.

Reheated Chinese takeaway? Noooo. But I totally get wanting a low effort day and skipping the traditional stuff. Chipotle bean chilli? Thai red or green curry? Dhal?

We’ve done a few non traditional Xmas dinners, steak and chunky chips was the favourite and really easy to cook on the day.

Last couple of years we’ve had roast lamb which is popular here as DS is quite a little traditionalist and wants a proper sit down roast so that’s a compromise. Not all the fuss of turkey but I still do roast spuds and pigs in blankets so it feels traditional.

The main thing about the day for me is spending time together and everyone enjoying the day, not being stressed and running in and out of the kitchen all morning

Christmas should be a celebration time, what is good about reheated Chinese?? Tasty options that are a million times better than reheated manky Chinese take away exist.

A few years we didn’t do a turkey dinner but we did steak, chips, veg, peppercorn sauce OR ham, nice bread etc

You don’t need to reheat it! We get a takeaway Christmas Day - no one in our house wants turkey, but you can still get it delivered.

Never had turkey at Xmas never did us any harm😁

Do whatever you like op there's no law on what you have to eat when.

Boristhecats same here. Dh is very territorial about Xmas dinner, he spends hours obsessing about it, and I don’t spend much of Christmas Day with him as a result.
I dream of buying the whole lot from M&S or Cook.
OP reheated take away sounds grim and possibly like a dose of food poisoning. You can do better than that.

Yes red cabbage in the slow cooker/oven/Aga. The longer it cooks the better. Sweat a shallot or two, then add cabbage, apple, cider or juice, maybe sultanas, a bit of mace and nutmeg. Simmer for hours.

No not Chinese reheated.
Chinese and chocolate cake? After Chinese?
I’m not sure you’re being serious.

I can't remember the last time I did the traditional meal.
I always cook a good meal though.
This year I'm planning a Filipino pork dish, with lots of sides.

Unless you are all working till midnight on Christmas Eve that is grim.

Chinese on christmas day tastes eve more better. But you should be able to find a takeaway that is open, well we always have

Even*

Do what you want on Christmas Day, it’s your day to enjoy. When my DC are not at home, we have steak, filthy triple cooked chips, green beans and my homemade pepper sauce with an expensive bottle of red. Have whatever makes your day special........

We have family in Germany and Netherlands and they do Christmas Eve - so quite often now we'll do a Christmas dinner party on Christmas Eve - with lots of candles and a small gift each to unwrap and we then spend Christmas Day eating leftovers, chocolate and wine and being very lazy. For tea in Christmas Day we'll have a buffet and a blackforest trifle - followed by Christmas cake, cheese and Stilton. We started doing this when we had a Christmas ski holiday and wanted to be out on the slopes and not bother with cooking - best Christmas lunch is tartiflette on the mountain in beautiful sunshine!