Out For Christmas Dinner

[CurryLover55]

Does anyone go out for Christmas dinner? I never have & can’t imagine ever wanting to spend the big day at a restaurant. It’s all about home & family for me.

It obviously depends very much on where you eat your Christmas lunch! Where we're going this year the food is always delicious and there's simply no rush because it's just the one sitting. And I know the staff actively scrabble over who gets to work because it's double pay & the tips are extremely generous.

We eat out every year, we get together as an extended family on Boxing Day. There are usually five or six of us out for Christmas Day lunch, depending on what our grown up children are doing. We're going out for a Bangladeshi banquet this year and I cannot wait. We're having a traditional turkey meal on the 23rd to get it out of the way!

Oh my word, Grantley Hall looks beautiful! That's Christmas 2022 sorted x

I apologise if my OP came across as sneery. It was absolutely not my intention. I count my blessings every day & know how lucky I am & that there are many people who aren’t as fortunate.

@peaceanddove - oh I wish!

Can't imagine how much it costs - though Louis Hamilton stays so obviously he can afford it!

Never have, don’t plan to. Dh is the best cook i know, every year he cooks for 20+ people, no stress, no drama, just gets on with it. It’s delicious and means we can all stay home, kids can play and just hang out with the family by the fire.
I can totally see how it works best for others with complicated family dynamics and/or not a table big enough to seat everyone, and I worked in a pub for a few christmases before I had kids and loved it, great atmosphere and everyone bought me a drink!

[quote AshLane]@peaceanddove - oh I wish!

Can't imagine how much it costs - though Louis Hamilton stays so obviously he can afford it![/quote]
I might have to sell a kidney, but it would be so worth it x

@CurryLover55

I apologise if my OP came across as sneery. It was absolutely not my intention. I count my blessings every day & know how lucky I am & that there are many people who aren’t as fortunate.

It didn't. It's that some people are unable to read things without saying: "I can't do that because of reasons and you are a sneery cow."

In a game of Misery Top Trumps they wouldn't have to look far before finding people who had it far worse off.

Don't apologise. I am sure that like most of us you are lucky in some respects and unlucky in others.

[quote AshLane]@peaceanddove - oh I wish!

Can't imagine how much it costs - though Louis Hamilton stays so obviously he can afford it![/quote]
At least we can both say that we stayed there first
If only we'd known who would come after us!

OP there was nothing sneery about your post. Perfectly reasonable question but you can never tell when a virtue signaller will pop along and try and dampen the mood.

@jesusmaryjosephandtheweedonkey

I don't as I wouldn't want to work Christmas Day . So I always feel sorry for the staff .

This ^

I realise there are lots of people who do have to work Christmas Day, but it seems sad to me that so many people who really shouldn't have to, are forced to work Christmas Day and Boxing Day

@CurryLover55 - your OP didn't come across as sneery at all.

We did go for an Indian one year as we were with friends and had Xmas dinner with them on Boxing Day, as one was working shifts on the actual day. We had a great time. We have also done Xmas abroad a couple of times Ie Barbados, the Maldives and once we popped up to aviemore.

They were all great but very different to a typical Christmas. I’d definitely do it again, but if it was a straight choice between just going out for crimbo dinner locally v having it at home, I’d stay home.

I've been out once before and this year we are going out. Simply because my mum and brother live in my hometown and last year I drove to collect them then drove them back so this year we thought we'd go out for the meal. Unfortunately she's not ended up in a care home so we will just go for our food then go and see her and come home.

I used to feel like you did OP, we always had Christmas at home and either me or DP did the cooking.

Now our kids are grown up and moved away with their own children I wouldn't mind going out for Christmas dinner one bit, have done my share of Christmases over the last 30 years.

I would have this year but covid has put me off going away so it's just me and him this year, and very nice it will be too, a bit of face timing with the GC and back to the telly.