Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve?

[ShellsandSand]

I'm sure this has been done before on a thread but wondered if anyone does or is planning on having their Christmas meal on Eve and having a buffet style lunch on Christmas Day? This idea really appeals to me as I always seem to spend hours in the kitchen Christmas day but obviously with tradition I would like to hear from others.

It’s very common in other European countries

Do it. It is a game changer. :-)

We are abroad and Christmas is on the 24th here so we do Christmas dinner on 24th and 25th is easy breezy.

Well...since I moved to Australia, I've had to embrace what constitutes Christmas dinner here...for some it's the traditional turkey and everything but for many others it's buffet style.

I really love the buffet style now. We have sushi, a ham, lovely salads, breads and cheeses and cold meats. Prawns too. Plus Pavlova and cream or icecream for those that don't like Pavlova and loads of soft fruit.

Lovely! Do what you like!

We did it before on our first Christmas alone, just us and the kids, DD2 came down with Chicken pox on Christmas eve and my grandparents are elderly and couldn't remember if they'd had it so cancelled coming. We decided we'd have Christmas dinner on Christmas eve then we had cheese & biscuits, meats, sausage rolls etc on Christmas day. It was wonderful, we got to lounge around on the sofa together, I didn't miss the kids opening presents etc by being in and out of the kitchen all day etc.
You do whatever feels good for your family, you don't have to follow 'normal' traditions if it works better another way for you. We've done it as Christmas dinner on Boxing Day as well again which was lovely.

This is what's done in France, it makes for a much more relaxing actual Christmas Day.

I think they do it because 26th Dec is not an actual holiday day off here, so they start on the evening of the 24th.

It's good but they do tend to kick the arse out of it and drag it on all night, and I cannot face a dessert past 11:00pm.

It does make Christmas Day a lot more relaxed. Plus you can prep most of the buffet stuff and just whack it on the table and you’re done.

Actually, I love that idea.

I think my mum would struggle with the change but for the rest of the family it would be brilliant, liberating

Great responses. I've made my mind up. Thanks! I've been thinking on it and originally felt a little uneasy how dare I break tradition and all that. But now I'm relishing the thought of a lovely relaxed Christmas dinner on C Eve and then into pyjamas with some movies and then waking up Christmas morning with nothing major to do but watch my children enjoy their gifts. I will also prepare the majority of the buffet foods the night before so I can just lay it out for everyone to snack on. Honestly love cooking Christmas dinner and but with all the timings and in and out of the kitchen I always feel abit on edge Christmas Day.

I'm thinking of doing the same! Have a lovely dinner on Xmas eve so we can have Xmas day just opening presents go for a walk and then have lots of yummy buffet type food that I don't have to think about! What are you planning on getting for Xmas day then?! I was going through the Aldi food leaflet and salivating over all their posh but cheap buffet food 😂

We’ve done this the last couple of years. So much more relaxing. Also we go to my mum’s every boxing day so it makes more sense.

Christmas meal on 24th, roast turkey and hot veggies and gravy 25th, mum’s roast on boxing day, cold meat, pickles buffet 27th. Carcass in the bin 28th

@Flowersonthewall Last year for Boxing day I did a table spread with lots of cheese, veggies, chips and dips, breads and olives and a small Christmas ham. I may cook a ham on Christmas eve for cold cuts and have the same. It went down a storm with the relatives. All hearty foods but available to eat cold with minimal washing up.

Noooo @fortifiedwithtea surely carcass turned to soup?! It's the only reason to have a whole turkey IMO

My MIL subjected us to this last year and I hated it. Mainly because there was no buffet on Christmas day. We were just expected to eat cold left overs and crackers. We're staying home this year

This is exactly the tradition I plan to start next year when DH and I have our first child! Growing up DH's family always did this, and after hosting my first Xmas a few years ago (and finding myself stuck in the kitchen working for the whole of Xmas day, 4 courses for 12 people) I'm now totally sold. Seems a lovely way to enjoy the me but also take the pressure of Xmas day and make room for some proper family time. Plus I think I like cheese more than I like a roast anyway!

D'ya know what. I'm so doing this. Single mum of two very hyperactive boys who believe.

xmas eve dinner would be so much more appreciated the night before, rather than dragging them away from their new gear to moan about the sprouts it always makes the day so stressful having to prepare it and try and get them to eat it.

Xmas day, playing all day & picnic lunch to pick at crackers cheese, cake etc. Tea at the GPs!

We tried this a few years ago but it doesn’t feel like Christmas doing it that way.

I've been doing this for over 20 years now. It started because when DC were small I found that on Christmas Day itself they were knackered by lunchtime due to all the excitement. They'd also scoffed chocs from their Christmas stocking so ended up barely eating. So our tradition would be Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, followed by bath, new PJ's and a Christmas movie. The DC love a roast so they got to enjoy the dinner, plus it was something for them to look forward to the day before. Then Christmas day itself would just be snacky stuff, and I could play with the DC and enjoy the day myself too. Even now they're adults we've kept it the same.

Our Norway years have xmas dinner on the 24th and I kind of hate it. But then they also do all the gifts in the evening after the dinner on xmas eve which might be what I actually hate.

It gets way too late for my 3 and 6 year old, they get too hyped and overtired, all the gifts have to be unpacked in such a rush and the xmas day is just ... empty and sad. I hate it hate it hate it. Much rather go to the pub xmas eve and have xmas day for presents and the big dinner.

But that's just me :) I hope your dinner plans are wonderful OP, whichever day you land on!

i dont understand this at all, why is cooking the exact same meal on christmas eve a relaxed affair, while making it less than 24 hours later a stress? ...many many years ago people had a relaxed christmas day at home with lovely dinner and on the next day went out delivering gifts.

do whatever suits you , personally i like my christmas dinner as part of christmas day traditions, what else have i to do all day anyway after kids have opened their gifts, the next day is a buffet style with left over ham and turkey lots of vegetarian options, and egg and chips!! - it started as a kids thing, now many relatives call in for it as a change and the demand for home made chips is rising with less people interested in breads cheese pickles etc.

we did it one year and I hated it!
Dinner on xmas eve

• kids are too excitable to sit at the table for too long
• prefer more snacky food, tracking santa on norad, hot choc, bath and new pjs for kids etc
• some people still work on xmas eve so its a rush for people to get here and sit down for a proper meal.

buffet on xmas day

• just didnt feel right
• once presents were opened the rest of the day felt a bit flat and more like boxing day.
• we like to stretch out xmas lunch and have games at the table in between courses, xmas pass the parcel for kids, quiz games etc.

Can someone please explain how you can cook a turkey on Christmas Eve? Our work let's us go at 4pm and by the time you get home and change even if you whacked the Turkey straight in the oven you wouldn't eat until about. 10pm. how on earth is that less stressful than cooking on Christmas Day?

Surely in the countries that do this, Christmas Eve is a bank holiday but it's not in this country.

Emma if you want to eat the turkey on Christmas Eve then you cook it the day before.

I wouldn't like it because I'm so tied to the tradition I grew up with but I think it's fine in general and the norm on other European countries.

I don't see that cooking Christmas dinner needs to be massively stressful - not unless you're one of those people who have to have umpteen different veg, 3 kinds of potatoes, Yorkshire puds on top, and 3 or 4 different puds.

If you're organised, keep it fairly simple (it's just a glorified roast), do plenty of prep in advance - and preferably have it late - we have ours around 5 - it can be a reasonably relaxed day for the cook.

Personally I don't give a stuff what people in other countries do - Christmas Eve is often the big day in much of Europe. They have their traditions, we have ours - one is not better than the other. And we have Boxing Day for chilling and minimal cooking (at least in this house) many countries don't have that.

For years we had nachos [brunch] and veggie chilli with rice [main] on Christmas day as that's what we fancied.