Christmas eve is indulgence eve for us where we have either 1) A sort of day long picnic and snack-a-thon, Or 2) a buffet. If we are doing the buffet then I borrow my SIL and Brothers slow cookers. In each one and mine I make peppered beef, chicken curry and a Bolognese the day before. A lasagna gets thrown together too using half the Bolognese and homemade bechamel. Then on Christmas eve everyone lands and the three slow cookers are there. I have a load of garlic bread and salads made (or bought that morning at deli counter, depending on laziness being felt), and a massive pot of boil in the bag rice, and spaghetti cooked. Everyone helps themselves buffet style. If my OH is feeling energetic she sometimes makes home made chips too or will have slow cooked a shoulder of pork in BBX sauce to shred and serve with crsyty bread. Everyone gets a choice and there plenty for people to take home with them for freezing or boxing day snackage.
If it's the picnic style that gets voted for though then it's a marathon of eating over more hours. We do a lot of prep on the 23rd again for it cause we have lots of family come and it's a day of eating different things on the 24th from about 3-7pm. Everyone mucks in on the day if we do this and it's a communal thing where we eat and people prep different things.
We do a mess of snack food and finger food. A couple of bake at home baguettes. Fancy ham, cheese, and roasted chicken breasts ready to go for people to make up their own sandwiches with bowls of salad and other toppings pre-prepared. Baguettes are great for tearing and dipping in oven baked a brie or camembert wheels too which everyone loves with nice chutneys and fruit on the go. Day before we prep giant vol au vents filled with chicken & mushroom or a thick beef and veg stew and heat as people want them on Christmas eve. Giant sausage roll made with just roll pastry and fancy sausage meat. Mix in cheese and cut up fancy bacon too sometimes. Mini quiches made using a bun tray and just roll pastry and a quickly knocked together quiche filling. One row is ham and sweetcorn, another chicken and brocolli, another sweet chilli and spicy deli sausage. Homemade scotch eggs made the day before. Home made chips on the go and chicken breasts cut into strips and breadcrumbed, oil a tray and stuck in beneath whatever is baking above.
Bake potatoes the day before. Cut in half and hollow out the skin. We then mash up the potato to make a variety of fillings. One done with curry, another with bacon and cheese, another with mayo and onion. Then pipe the filling back into the half potato skins. On Christmas eve they can be heated to crispiness back in the oven whenever we want them.
With most of it prepped the day before we can cook or reheat what we fancy as we want it and a good range of things keeps everyone happy.
As you can tell we are a household who likes choice and everyone mucks in to help or we divide up who is prepping what the day before. Slow cookers and pre-prepared are our friends.