Christmas day and the fucking oven has finally died....

[minipurr]

As the title suggests.
To be fair it's been on its last legs for a while now. We were planning to replace it in the new year. So why oh sodding why does the thing conk out xmas day of all days. It's very dead- thermostat has gone and isn't even getting warm.

Thankfully it's not raining so we have the next door neighbour's barbecue going hell for leather in the back garden and their air fryer in the kitchen sorting out the roast potatoes and the neighbours are my new best friends.

The kids have been up since 0415am and are now fighting, I stink of barbecue and right now hiding in the shed troffing all the chocolate in one hit is looking very inviting.

Baaaaaaaaallllllllllllsssssssss

Argh what a nightmare this sort of thing would happen to me.

Oh no. I am very thankful that the year ours decided to go kaput it was after I had cooked. It will be a Christmas dinner to remember though.

Omg op how stressful for you 😱 Thank goodness you have your neighbours to help. Are you hosting anyone besides yourself?

Not helpful now but you'll look back on this in many years and laugh Sod's fucking law.

but your kids will think it is a great adventure and I imagine will look back fondly in years to come on the BBQ Christmas. It will become family legend. But for now a stiff drink and eating all the chocolate seem an excellent coping strategy

You'll look back on it and laugh for years to come, however shitty it seems now. And you'll have a snazzy new one for next year

It's the law of sod OP. Hide in the shed with a bottle of gin.

I had a goose last year that took 5 hours longer than predicted because of MILs piece of shit antique oven. I was cooking for 14 people.

I was shitfaced by the time it was ready.

Xmas bbq sounds awesome. Hope it all works out.

Thank goodness for neighbours and BBQs

Oh no, my worst nightmare. The oven I have only works on fan with grill so everything is well covered and hoping not frazzled. Problem is council won’t replace it it’s built in so I can’t really even buy another one myself.
Hope dinner turns out well, crap expense at this time too huh

My mother once dropped the whole cooked turkey into the full washing up bowl. We laugh every single Christmas about it, we probably remember nothing else about that year.

I do hope your meal, when you get it, is absolutely delicious.

It's a nightmare today, but this will be a fond memory for your children.

One of my best childhood Christmases was the year of the power cut. It lasted from 11am till 7pm ish. We had a gas hob but electric oven, so we had sausage and mash for Christmas dinner (I think the sausages were from the freezer and needed to be cooked anyway as they'd been defrosted). That was for 20!!! We were all in the same boat though as the power cut affected the whole town so our guests couldn't have stepped in to cook either. Then we all ate by candlelight, played board games by candlelight and went for a wintery, Christmas Day walk. It was a lovely day from my point of view as a child. I rather suspect my parents were very, very stressed, and the Christmas Day walk may well have been a ploy to get rid of us all for a while so they could sort out what we could possibly eat!

Mine did that on Monday. Thank goodness for the slow cooker and top oven!

It’s lovely weather here for a BBQ, sunny and above 10c. Sounds like huge fun actually.

Hosting for 6 people besides my lot.
Thankfully I can report that barbecued turkey and beef are just as delicious and the kids decided to eat it instead of whinging about it as per usual. Think I will also be purchasing an air fryer for myself as well as the roast potatoes were delicious.

Unfortunately no alcohol in the house as we are a dry house* but plenty of christmas chocolates have been consumed, including the stuff neither DH or the children knew about. However I will NEVER be willingly bbq-ing my christmas dinner again.

New oven has duly been ordered.

*DH watched his mother die a slow and horrible death from alcoholic liver disease so unsurprisingly he is very anti alcohol, moreso at Christmas which by all accounts was anything but a happy, festive time growing up. His brother, who we are hosting along with his wife and children has similar thoughts so out of respect for DH and his brother I dont keep alcohol in the house.

Hearing about your delicious dinner is making me want mine even more, mil is in the kitchen with FIL dishing up. I prepped all the veg earlier so I'm sitting and relaxing right now.

Sods law but like pp it will be remembered fondly in years to come. I remember the new year we were at my dads parents and there was a power cut in their area and they had an all electric oven and hob. It only lasted a few hours so dinner was just delay but I do remember my DM going on about this is why she has a gas oven and hob.

Mine wouldn't turn on this morning without tripping the fuse. It's just me DS (20) and DD (19). Today we are eating things that don't require cooking (lunch was loads of antipasti, bread, cheese and crackers), I'm hoping I can get it fixed tomorrow because I have a loads of lovely food sitting in my fridge waiting for me to cook it.

Ours too!

We had sausage bacon, beans egg and toast, we've survived