To order a takeaway for Christmas dinner when I'm hosting?

[thirteendolphins]

I have 2 DC's - nearly 4yo and 10 months at Christmas. I have invited my parents round for Christmas dinner, MIL, brother and partner and a friend. So 7 adults and 2 kids in total.

DP will be working on Christmas day and won't be home til about 7pm.

To be honest I get stressed out just making a roast dinner, the number of dishes to wash etc freak me out, the kids are going to be hyper, we'll have different guests visiting the boys late morning, the house will be a bomb site. If DP was here he'd make the Christmas dinner because he doesn't mind and is the complete opposite to me when it comes to cooking i.e. he is unflappable.

I, on the other hand, will get completely stressed, will be in the kitchen most of the day cooking and tidying up, will also be trying to keep up with the constant demands from the kids and trying to entertain the guests. I can feel my anxiety levels rising just thinking about it.

So I've thought about getting an Indian takeaway meal instead and providing pudding. My parents do this most Christmas days so I know they won't mind. It just seems so much EASIER. But I LOVE Christmas dinner (when someone else is doing it). I feel like I'm cheating.

But then I think surely the most important thing is that we're all together and I'm enjoying the kids and the guests and it's relaxed. Surely it won't be much fun for the guests if I'm flapping about, bright red and on the edge of tears???

AIBU??

One of DH's relatives insisted on doing Xmas last year.... he served up minestrone soup and a ham with a bit of salad . We didn't have a table and his dog nicked the ham off my plate on my lap mid-way through the meal.

It was different to say the least...

Ironically, I'd be happy with a takeaway so long as there were starters, mains and a pudding and we all ate together around the table (and crackers.... and alcohol... plus maybe a cheese course at the end).

I'm tempted to do it this year. I dont have my DS and really wont feel up to it until I have him.

Christmas dinners are super easy to cook. It's mostly just sticking things in the oven.

You'd have to have a fairly mahoosive slow cooker though purplecrazyhorse to fit a turkey/chicken for 10 though ! I love all the slinging of the food in your house, sounds very jolly .

We do our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve and have turkey and stuffing sandwiches and a bit of a buffet on Christmas Day. I want to spend the day with my kids, not stressed and by myself in the kitchen! I know they would prefer me to be with them too 😉

Prep is the key & if u have a slow cooker even better. Do a gammon joint instead of turkey? Cook's lovely in a sc. Keep it simple. Meat, 2 veg & potatoes. Soup can even be done in the sc day before for starter & ready made pudding just to be sliced with pouring cream. If u keep it low key & simple u will b fine.

Do a buffet style meal? Things that take very little organising and people can help themselves. I do this for new year and it always goes down well.

If there is a Cook shop near to you they do the whole thing frozen. It's expensive but it isn't processed and has been cooked by a human not a machine x

When I was a child my dm used to prepare a buffet for Christmas Day as all our family lived over an hour away and could never predict when they'd arrive( 1 hot dish , usually a curry , plus cooked gammon and turkey plus loads of side dishes which we could prepare day or 2 before and just bung in oven/ take from fridge )
I carry on this tradition now andalthough we have turkey and all the trimmings for Christmas Day,I actually prefer the buffet we have on Boxing Day

Could any of your guests help? Years ago I went to my boyfriend's sister's for Christmas and ended up cooking dinner as she was clueless. I loved being involved

I think I've had a full Christmas lunch once in my life
I work most years over Christmas and NY, so last years was McDonalds, the year before Indian takeaway and I think the year before that was pizza. No chance of a full roast here!

I did the Cook Xmas dinner last year. It was wonderful. My DH had a rare Xmas at home with just the kids and we basically didn't want to spend the time cooking. Worth it if you can afford. It is literally open packets and stick in although there is a video if you get stuck!!!!

I would love to order curry for Christmas lunch. Our only guests are my parents and MIL. My parents and I would love a curry. DS would love a large naan bread and some mango lassi.
Only DH and MIL want a roast- so DH is cooking it!

I always cook, plate up and clingfilm on christmas eve, then on the day just pop dinners in the microwave whilst the gravy reheats. (Then all the big washing up is done and out the way.) Pop an apple pie or such like in the oven whilst eating and serve with carton custard or cream.
Use paper plate xmas eve tea time, xmas day tea time and boxing day!(kids love this!!!) It is a holiday afterall, so just enjoy yourself!!! Xx

Cook also deliver so you don't even have to go to the shop. It is all frozen so you can get in advance. They designed it to fit into one freezer drawer and as someone else said there is a video. They have even worked out the timings for you. Just buy crackers.

Haven't RTFT apologies, but if you're in or around London, COOK deliver the most amazing Christmas roast frozen with instructions of what goes in when. Did it last year and it was brilliant!

How about you ask every one to provide a dish, so you cook the turkey and stuffing, and ask everyone else to do something such as veg and roast potatoes, that then can then re heat at yours?

There are ways to make Christmas dinner miles easier.
Lots can be prepared in advance (peeling and chopping veg, par boiling potatoes, braising red cabbage) or bought ready prepared (check out M&S website and/or use frozen roast potatoes and yorkshires).
Cook things in disposable foil dishes (I usually sling them out in the garden when done, then wash them for the recycling a few days later). We also got good quality plastic disposable plates one year (can go for a festive colour).
Buy a pudding.
Maybe this is worth doing if you do enjoy Christmas dinner?

Do it! Life's too short. Invite them for boxing day as well if you're having a roast then.

You could always ask everyone to bring something to share? That's more in the spirit of things than an indian takeaway.

I'd be fine with a takeaway as long as I knew in advance as I also hate spending Christmas day slaving away in the kitchen while others lie around on my settee watching telly and enjoying themselves! So I would be fine about you not wanting to do it and just come along and have a good time.

I would want to know in advance though as I would be pretty gutted to get a takeaway if I was geared up for a lovely turkey dinner that someone else had cooked!

I've just put in an order with COOK so my dinner is sorted for this year, thanks to all who posted about it It's just me, DH and the teens though so I am very tempted to tell them I'm doing the big dinner on boxing day and spending Christmas day on the settee this year. Disclaimer - they do all muck in but it's still an effort!

Why don't you just order EVEYTHING from marks and spencer , you cook it in the trays it comes in and the things are bang on ......job sorted , just make sure you order it all in time and arrange to collect at a time suited to yourself, I've done it on numerous occasions and no one is the wiser .

If you love the dinner why not invest in m&s cheat dinner? The kind of thing that's naice as can be but tells you how/what to cook in its foil tray.
Did it when my dd was v tiny. Was nice!

I'd happily not eat a traditional Christmas Dinner on Christmas Day, but would think a takeaway curry going a bit far in the opposite direction.

Something more seasonal, like a spiced beef pie perhaps?

Or invite me - I'll happily cook it for you - 'tis only a big chicken

We have had a curry takeaway for many years when the kids were young.

It was everyone's favourite food and took all the stress out of christmas day. I would set the table - with crackers and christmassy things, warm the plates while OH went out for the food. Our favourite Indian does a roaring trade on christmas day. I would always have plenty of pudding choice and other foods filling the fridge. As long as you let the adults know in plenty time of your plans I can't see the problem.

The christmas police have not made it this far North.