To think serving a starter with Christmas dinner is unnecessary. And weird.

[Kavalier]

Am hosting DH's family for Xmas dinner for the first time this year. MIL always does a prawn cocktail starter and they will miss a starter if I don't serve one, so I will. I think it's very odd though. AIBU?

That was me, we always had our Yorkshires and gravy as a starter growing up, that's the traditional Yorkshire way, to fill you up so you don't need so much meat. It's the only starter I serve with a roast dinner, but we don't do it on Christmas Day because we don't want to be filled up before the main.

Ham, turkey and beef! You're hardcore Starlight.

It's what they do in Toby Carvery. Stick a HUGE Yorkshire on your plate first before they carve the meat for you. That way your plate looks full with less meat.

Hardcore. Perhaps. I grew up very poor. For some reason my parents felt that we had to make up for a year of pea and 20 times cooked ham bone soup with a glutenous Christmas dinner.

Dm has not only always served a starter but soup before that starter. We dont eat the actual dinner until 6pm so plenty of time between courses. Yes there has to be ham with the turkey, especially as dsis and I dont like turkey. In fact Im really not fussed on Christmas dinner full stop. Plonk me down the cheese and pates as a Christmas meal and I'd be happy.

I have never had a starter as part of a Christmas dinner.
Our Christmas dinner involves a massive list of components, and with the pudding steaming away on the hob and finding a way to hear all the plates and serving dishes. And every utensil being used, how do you manage a starter?

We do have posh nibbles , though . An hour before.

I certainly don't want to fill up on defrosted prawns and iceberg lettuce drenched in mayo with tomato sauce in it !

I love the sausages wrapped in bacon and fancy stuffings. Don't have yorkshire puddings though. That seems too much faff with everything else.

I'm Irish. In Ireland Christmas dinner is Turkey AND ham. Not one or the other, both. The ham is served hot, def not cold, and is baked with a mustard and sugar glaze and studded with cloves.

We don't have 'pigs in blankets' (sausages wrapped in rashers I think??)

We have ham for Boxing Day along with cold turkey

Dp is allergic to poultry so we have turkey and beef or just beef on Christmas day

LOL @all these prawn cocktails, what is this, Abigail's Party ?

Starters have no place at the Christmas dinner table in this house.

It doesn't have to be a prawn cocktail, other food stuffs can be used!

Christmas dinner without a starter just sounds so dreary. It's meant to be a celebration meal.

My neighbours serves lentil soup as a starter for the big day.

Sounds dreary to me!

Lentil soup is indeed very dreary.

Depends how extravagant the main meal is I suppose. I'm all for starters normally but not on Xmas day, the idea of it is flipping my stomach

Ceres- we've often had Turkey and ham or chicken and ham, really delicious

Lentil soup is more fitting for a wet Tuesday in February.

ceres I've never had pigs in blankets with Christmas dinner either, it's one of those exotic British things that never took off in Ireland. Odd since Irish people are normally very enthusiastic over ways to force extra bacon into a meal.

We don't have pigs in blankets either.

Urghh I can't imagine eating roast dinner after lentil soup! Blerk!

TBH I think a starter at ANY dinner is a bit nouveau.

And a Christmas starter is unnecessary; surely you've all been eating chocolate and Twiglets and drinking fizz all morning anyway?

But then again I don't do trad Christmas food at all. There are a million things I'd rather eat than turkey/stuffing/cranberry sauce/parsnips/bread sauce/Xmas pudding/mince pies.

I hate the notion of plating up as well. Bung dishes straight from the oven on the table. Let people help themselves. So much easier, and more sociable with all the passing around of stuff and people serving up for each other etc.

Plating up? Who plates up? No,no, serving dishes on the table

Starters are nouveau?

What are you on about??

Twiglets are frightfully arriviste don't you know.

squoosh, I was being a bit tongue in cheek. But I generally hate any 'faff' or ceremony around food and for me, serving up several courses one after the other feels like faff and ceremony. I like putting cooking vessels on the table and letting everyone pile in, then adding a big bowl of trifle or some tubs of ice cream later for people to dig into.

Oh, and I don't care, I love Twiglets.