Curry house on Xmas day

[ChutneyVirgin]

Has anyone ever binned off Turkey Etc and done this?
i’m not really interested if in theory you wouldn’t like it, so please only replies from people who have done it and did they like it? Older kids so Xmas magic Etc not an issue

Not for a few years l, but we have an extremely good Indian and their special Xmas dinner is absolutely incredible.

We did it in 2020, the last min tier 4 introductions meant that family were stuck in London and we would have just sat about feeling sad without them so we booked a really nice Indian restaurant, got dressed up then came home and had cocktails and grazed on party food in the evening. It was really good!

We did a paired down christmas dinner on boxing day as we had most of the stuff, and it felt much more relaxed than trying to get "the meal" perfect on "the day"

I once still had chillis and tomatoes growing on Christmas Eve so I harvested them and we had chilli for Christmas day. We ended up having that for a decade as we aren't in any way religious and chilli was our favourite meal.

I would love to do this, so enjoying reading about everyone's Christmas curry traditions. Sadly I can see no way that we won't be hosting MIL for the rest of her life (she's alone and DH is the only child) and she will not consider even the mildest of spicy food. We alternate between curry and chinese for New Year though and love it. By that point in the holidays the whole family is sick of roast/leftovers/cheeses etc and ready for a change.

I do Chinese takeaway on Christmas Eve. It’s an American Jewish thing. It stems from the American tradition of Chinese restaurants being open over Christmas and therefore accommodating the New York Jews while the Christians cracked on with Santa… and it’s stuck. It’s a nice habit.
I am Christian, raised Catholic by my Irish mother but my father’s family was Jewish. It’s my bit of schtick (since I don’t do menorahs AND Christmas trees together… I’m all tree, all Santa, all in with Jesus is the reason for the season. 😆).
My kids really love the takeaway spread. So do I. We don’t have family over here… divorced from my ex husband whose family has nothing to do with us anymore. So… we can do anything we like now that I don’t have to do Christmas for any of them.
My very long-winded point is, have a Christmas curry and have fun with it, OP. I think it sounds fantastic and you’re actually giving me ideas! 😋

I did last year, it was great fun and hopefully we will do it again this year.

" I do Chinese takeaway on Christmas Eve. It’s an American Jewish thing. It stems from the American tradition of Chinese restaurants being open over Christmas and therefore accommodating the New York Jews while the Christians cracked on with Santa… and it’s stuck. It’s a nice habit"

Ha!, i did not know this.
We've done Chinese for Xmas for years. Usually because I work Xmas day and we do a huuuuge (30+) boxing day dinner to get the roast dinner fix.
We order and collect a takeaway Xmas eve and reheat whenever I've finished work/we're ready to eat.
Thinking of Indian this year, and if I'm on an early we may even go out to eat.

My Parents go to their local Indian restaurant almost every Christmas Day. It's their favourite place to go out for dinner and a meal they enjoy much more than a traditional Christmas lunch so why not?

A giant biryani prepared by a take away would still have that " roast out of the oven" feel and it will last a bit longer and not so spicy .. and yoghurt / garlic nan bread for kids .. we've done it on Christmas Eve but would push to do it on Christmas Day can't face another dry turkey

I would love this. We have family staying this Christmas and I'm dreading catering for 12 people. Might suggest we go out for a curry just to see the horror on my MIL's face

We go every year, it's great. Usually same people there too so it's a nice atmosphere snd we all swap about tables!

We often do Indian takeaway for Christmas Day. Our local restaurant isn’t as good as it was and so last year I cooked curry. Did it in advance and froze so I didn’t have too much to do on the day. Will probably do this again this year.
OP if I were you I’d do it. Don’t do things just for the sake of tradition.

I'm getting inspired by these stories. I'd love to but neither my parents nor my in-laws would be impressed. We hosted Christmas (twice in 3 days for each set of parents) for the first time last year since having DD and I hated how much of the time I spent in the kitchen rather than with DD like I wanted to be. I gently suggested the idea of something simpler than a roast for next year and it went down like a lead balloon. 😞

I’d love to go for a bloody good curry, but there aren’t any good curry houses within walking distance.

We’ve taken to making ridiculously decadent versions of our favourite foods instead. It’s going to be lasagne followed by tiramisu this year.

We’ve taken to making ridiculously decadent versions of our favourite foods instead. It’s going to be lasagne followed by tiramisu this year.

That’s proper Northern Italian Christmas tradition, right there. All this talk of food! I could go for a lasagne biryani right now. 😆

I tried to do this years ago and the restaurant were happy to do it, provided there were at least 20 people but I couldn't find enough people willing to do it.

I ended up buying an Indian and a Chinese Takeaway on Christmas Eve, put them both in the fridge, had the Indian on Christmas Day and the Chinese on Boxing Day. It was very good and only a few plates and some cutlery to washup!

we had a curry takeaway on christmas eve last year, it was great!
The main reason was that we were hosting everyone and there was no more room in the fridge because of all the christmas day food! We already had a coolbox outside the back door lol
It was lovely and very low stress!

This is why we do it.
We Just say we are going out for a curry and that’s it. Nobody else wants to come, it’s great.

My FIL and SIL go to a restaurant on Christmas day for lunch, sometimes this has been an Indian restaurant, sometimes Chinese other times a place that serves traditional Christmas dinner. My MIL died 8 years ago so they have done this since then as she was the main cook. I don't cook Christmas lunch my sister does. We have had this arrangement for 20 years which is why FIL and SIL still do their Christmas lunch together. We see them in the afternoon.

As a student I used to serve Christmas dinner in a pub. Puts you right off your own consumed several hours later. I would just try it this year and if you love it continue and if you don't do something different.

I know someone who orders chinese or indian takeaway every year on Xmas Day - the relatives are welcome round so long as they submit their order in advance - and it means they get to play / build the kid's toys and no one gets stuck in the kitchen prepping sprouts all morning.

We did a few times when we were younger. Rather depressingly it started off the back of necessity. My dad left my mum suddenly when we were children very close to xmas time and she wasn't really in a fit state so that's what we went for. We liked it so much (despite the odds) that we did it the next two years.

We went back to the traditional dinner after that but chopped and changed some years on and some off, some it was a takeaway xmas eve instead. Whatever it was we fancied.

If it's what you want to do, go for it. Nothing changed as a result of putting a different cuisine in our mouths on dec 25th, all was just as fun and festive.

Yes we did this with friends, due to someone’s shifts, it was a lot of fun, but we did do Xmas day on Boxing Day. Would I only do this. No.

Haven't done curry, but have done the restaurant thing which was really nice. We were "hosting" but just didn't have space for everyone so we went out instead.

Also done the traditional big meal on Christmas Eve instead and then just picked on Christmas Day. That was nice and made Christmas Day much more chilled.

Definitely do what you want rather than what you think should be done.

A friend does this as she lives alone and her family are in Ireland. She would have a takeaway curry each year.