Another Christmas dinner one...

[Piccalino3]

A sense check please...

One of my husbands family members is coming to us on Christmas Eve afternoon and wants to stay for Christmas lunch the next day. She needs to leave at 3.30pm on Christmas Day to get to one of her relatives as she's getting a lift and there's no transport, it's far away.

We always have a really relaxed Christmas morning and a big breakfast with baileys etc. I have 3 young children and feel constantly stressed with timings and rushing around etc so I really don't want to feel stressed on Christmas Day knowing I have to have dinner on the table at 2pm or she won't get a chance to eat. We often eat at 4 or 5pm or whenever dinner is ready. It's nice and relaxed and I enjoy it.

AIBU to feel annoyed about this? I've asked my husband to sort it weeks ago but there's not really any options unless she doesn't eat with us. I just wanted one day to relax and enjoy myself without the constant pressure of clock watching. I do everything for Christmas, so annoyed that my husband just doesn't seem to get it. Am I making a mountain out of a molehill? Ultimately I'll likely end up sucking it up and being resentful.

As usual on these threads, you have a DH problem.

I'm curious what you're having for breakfast. I always have ideas of smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels, or something along those lines, but I don't really eat breakfast, so I never bother, and just have some chocolates!

(on another thread I read about someone cooking 7 veg, how do you even do that? suacepans?? gas rings??)

Easy. Carrot and swede mash, cranberry sauce, and red cabbage, are cooked a day or two before and put in microwavable serving dishes.
Sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and parsnips, all go in one large roasting tray. Potatoes are parboiled and tossed in oil in the roasting tin, the night before. Carrots, peas, and sprouts are cooked in a 3 tiered steamer on one hob ring. Celeriac in another saucepan.

That still leaves two rings on the hob for gravy and anything else.

The key to Christmas dinner, is prepping as much as you can before the day, and being organised.