To request Xmas turkey served before 7pm

[askingaquestion1]

Going to Xmas at my Dad's. He wants us to eat our turkey meal at 7pm because I think he wants the kids to be in bed so his meal isn't disturbed by the cherubs. I'd like to eat with the kids as think it's an important family tradition plus 7pm is too late to eat such a heavy meal. Kids range from 5 to 3 months. He says not possible to eat 4.30ish as turkey won't be cooked before then. Has he got an exceptionally poor oven or a very large turkey? Or is it just an excuse?!

If he’s not prepared to compromise then don’t go. I wouldn’t. Christmas is for family. We have always had dinner around 2 - 3pm on Christmas Day. Then you have plenty of time to digest it before the evening.

Isn't the whole point to enjoy a meal all together! And way too much food to be eating at 7.

I can only say how it is in our house.

For us (we have kids from 13 down to 4) a 7pm dinner works fine.

1. The kids think its a MASSIVE treat to be up late and having dinner. Its Christmas day and really no big deal for them for just one day (they can always sleep in)
2. No one has to get up at silly o clock to start preparing food (our kids are pretty good about not getting up early for presents but thats another issue)
3. In the past when we have had Christmas Dinner at lunchtime, the day seems to be over the moment the Christmas Pud has been eaten. If you have your main meal at around 7, it seems to make the excitement last longer.

A 7pm dinner means a relaxed day with the kids playing with their new stuff all day and then the dinner is a culmination of events. It works brilliantly for us. DH does the cooking and doesnt really get going in the kitchen until late morning (after presents etc have been done). We normally compliment it with a proper full english breakfast to keep everyone going and snacks for the kids if they want them.

Again, its only what works for us, but rather than try to move the meal, if you approach it like this you might be surprised.

FWIW in most of the rest of Europe, the main Christmas meal is eaten mid evening on Christmas Eve...

We eat by 2pm
7 would be the time for another meal at ours

Maybe a different perspective. After a tricky year my attitude this year is as long as everyone is relaxed and happy anything goes. If you think that the kids will be upset then I think that you need to speak with your Dad, otherwise go with the flow and enjoy this year for what is is. In reality it’s probably too late now to do something different but if it doesn’t work for you do something different next year. Have a lovely Christmas xx

I wouldn't go. Seriously, why placate someone who has made it clear he doesn't eat one of the highlight meals of the year with his grandchildren. Reminds me if my mother telling my social worker she didn't want see me on Christmas Day. I was six. I spent one Christmas with her in all my life and I was ten months old. It would be worse for your children as presumably they see their grandad and know who he is.

Sounds crap - don’t go

7pm on Christmas Day? Christmas dinner is traditionally a lunchtime meal. I agree with @Singlenotsingle, 3pm is around the right time. Gives time for kids to open their presents, go to church if that’s your thing and back in time for Christmas dinner.

Tell your dad that even the Queen has Christmas dinner at lunchtime!

Christmas is a time when the children should be most important. Adult dinner parties can take place any other time.

Sorry but your dad sounds a real grumpy old fart. We have five grandchildren from 15 down to 4 and Christmas Day is about them. We open our presents on Christmas Eve purely so the focus is entirely on them on Christmas Day. By 7pm the little ones are exhausted But we’re happy we’ve given them a lovely day and memories to look back on.

@Pfefferkuchen I got up a 4.30am to be in work by 6.30am so that I could finish early, get my wrapping finished, go to church this evening and have some time with DD & DH. We'll be up for Santa no doubt by 6am, so I intend to go to be in bed by 9pm once I've played Santa and drunk Rudolph's sherry.

My kid must be odd then. Since she had her first Christmas dinner at 11 months old she has genuinely loved it and looks forward to it every year. She also loves her roast dinners throughout the year too.

Christmas Dinner is served around 2pm at ours. Plenty of time for breakfast, presents, the first alcoholic drink of the day, a bit of telly (as I'm surrounded by Heathens who think fresh air is an abomination) as the spuds are prepared, etc. Which leaves the rest of the afternoon to fall asleep before picking at stuff in the evening

But everyone's different, thankfully we get some fresh air. It's can't stand eating Christmas dinner early (as in before dark) personally because the evening is boring and goes on forever. 7 is later than I'd choose but I'd go out during the day.

I think yabu op in one way but the stress of trying to get the kids into bed beforehand 😱. They aren't going to stay I suspect......

OP - if what you are asking is whether it is possible to physically cook a Turkey before 7pm then the answer is of course yes. It all depends when you put it in the oven! The biggest turkey I have cooked was 20lbs 8oz and we ate it at 3.30pm.

We always aim for a late afternoon meal at Christmas so that everyone can relax afterwards.

Nope, not good! My parents work everything to fit around the children and would be sad to miss their grandchildren at the Christmas meal. If he wants an adult meal then he should say but dinner at 7 is too late. If he's worried about behaviour then he needs to be prepared, children would have gone loopy from hunger /boredom /broken routine by then 😂.

Sounds like a rubbish Christmas Day if you don't all sit round the table and have Christmas dinner together, whatever the time. I would be staying at home in that case. Christmas is about family, not about feeding your children beans on toast and packing them off to bed so you can stuff your faces with turkey and all the trimmings.
And if you have a massive turkey - get up at 8, put the oven on, back to bed, put turkey in the oven at 9, cook for 7 hours, rest for 1 hour, eat at 5. That would be enough time to cook an 8kg turkey so the meat is dropping off the bones

That's so mean, it's a family day

This is why we stopped going to in-laws at Christmas. They wanted us there but the kids in bed out of the way. Yet when they had young family they would never have let their parents do the same. Christmas dinner is an all family affair. Best doing it yourself next year. Have fun anyway :)

The children by that mealtime will be shattered & whiny, if your dad insists on not eating until 7.00pm I would also put him in charge of managing the children as well as the dinner. Next year he will either see your point of view or I would sort your own Christmas dinner at home & he fits in with your timetable or stays at home.

I would just let my kids stay up and join the meal. Wouldn’t make them miss out on Christmas dinner. So he wouldn’t be getting his peaceful adult meal in any case. He really shouldn’t have invited you if he was planning to exclude the children.

Both of mine would happily power on through to 9pm, especially after a day of excitement and chocolate.

Ask him could you cook the turkey for him and have lunch earlier, that way you are doing him a favour

Stuff what your dad wants

His house, his rules - or does that only work one way?

What are pigs in blankets .... not from Uk??

Is your dad always a grump? Sorry but I couldn’t be bothered eating a Xmas meal at that time.
What’s his problem with the kids? Miserable sod! He was once a kid himself.

Pigs in blankets are small cocktail sausages with streaky bacon wrapped around each one.

Ah! Thank you.

I’d be fine with that as an adult, but not with small dc.