Christmas Dinner Alternatives

[Breathmiller]

Every second year my older adult children go to their dad's for Christmas Day dinner then come to ours for Boxing Day which is when we do our traditional dinner with all the trimmings. It works well for all of us.

So on Christmas day it is just the 4 of us, husband and two boys 16 and 8.
We don't want another traditional Christmas dinner on the 25th so we have done alternatives before.

One year we did a beautiful home made Japanese dinner, had it on a rug on the floor with origami decorations. It was fun and delicious.

Last time we were short of time and energy so decided to get a takeaway curry with all the trimmings. But it felt a real disappointment so we don't want to do that again.

So we are happy to go all out again and cook from scratch and make it a bit of an 'event'. But we can't think of a theme this year.

Any ideas?
Oh and just for extra shits'n'giggles we have a wheat intolerance , a lactose intolerance and a veggie. So lots of different bits and bobs work well.

Home made Chinese banquet, lots of options for gluten free, dairy not much of a feature in Chinese cooking. Lots of fun to be had with garnish, eg carved radish roses, spring onion tassels. A vegetable broth could be one course, or drunk through the meal as a beverage.
Lychees, pomegranate and golden fruit for pudding perhaps.

Thanks @AdaColeman
That all sounds lovely, especially the fruit as dessert.
I'll put it to the rest of the crew

Don't forget all the Chinese dishes that you can do with tofu for the vegetarian.
I think golden fruit is called physalis here.

I've just been looking up dishes and there are so many that would be great. I think i have the Gok Wan book lurking on a shelf too that I haven't cooked much out of.
I think this might be a good choice.

Thanks

Tapas and paella is easyish and fun, or Greek dishes ... lamb shoulder slow cooked overnight served with rice, salad, spanakopita (veggie).

Tapas, you can prep lots the day before and it would be easy to have lots of options for intolerance and veggie.

Mexican is a favourite in our house too, a big pot of chilli then lots of different sides.

We love tapas and it was our original plan but we are all going out for a meal a few days before and have picked a tapas restaurant so didn't want it again.

Mexican we do a lot, big pot of lentil chilli is our go to Friday night dinner so none of us fancied that.

Thanks for all the ideas.

I’d do a Middle Eastern yotollenghi type thing. Loads of veg. Salads etc. Good at that time of year when not much veg about sometimes.

If you can find Sharon fruit (ancient name persimmon) that would be a good addition to your fruit platter, as it’s been cultivated in China for thousands of years.

I’m going to do that platter myself in early December, and think it will look super.

You could use red or red and gold napkins and scatter gold coins on the table as they are fortuitous colours in China.

My friend alternates between Polish traditional food and Italian

Really lovely- I like the Polish food best

Oh i don't know Polish food very well. I'll look it up.

Also like the sound of middle Eastern

A greek feast? Lamb and pittas, spanakopita, feta, cheeses - quite summery I suppose but can be made a feast