To prefer Christmas dinner rather than Christmas lunch?

[SparklyMistleToes]

A bit of a pointless post really, but saw another post discussing Christmas meals and the majority seemed to all have their Christmas meal earlier in the day. I grew up eating Christmas dinner in the early evening (so let's say 4:30pm onwards, but mostly 5pm-6ish). Now that I cook it I tend to serve it between 5-6pm as well.

I couldn't imagine having our main Christmas meal at lunch. Each year we have a decent size Christmas brunch followed by an afternoon of cooking and a relaxing while the children play with their toys. And then dinner between 5-6pm.

Why do people prefer a Christmas lunch? If you eat so early don't you get hungry again in the evening?

Also what time do you all get up and start cooking for your meal to be ready at lunch time?

Does anyone else prefer a Christmas dinner to a Christmas lunch or AIBU? I just feel like it's so much more pleasant and relaxing to end the day having a nice sit down meal followed by dessert and watching TV and then relaxing and winding down. I think I would feel a bit lost if I had my meal at lunch.

If you eat so early don't you get hungry again in the evening? I f you get hungry again in the evening, you’re not doing Christmas Dinner properly!

In my opinion most people think the way their family did things at Christmas is the right way to do things.

We have ours at 2pm and that's the way I prefer it. There's no wrong or right and you're certainly not unusual in preferring to have a Christmas dinner in the evening.

We've always eaten Christmas dinner at dinner time - about 5ish when dc were babies/toddlers and that fitted in with them, now probs around 6 ish.
Selection box breakfast followed by big brunch (my ddad used to bbq a full fry up outside/under garage door when we were growing up, now it rolls and whatever or pancakes bacon and maple syrup. Dd will be working till 0500 this Christmas Eve into day so I suspect she will be up much later than ever! DS will be out and home in early hours so again won't be having an early start!! Our dinner time tradition will def suit them this year!
We're Scottish and when we lived in England everyone thought we were strange for not eating at 1 then watching the Queen!

I quite like it 'out of the way' in terms of clean up etc so I think we'll have it at 2ish. My kids make quite a mess eating, and there's loads of washing up just from the cooking, so I want it all done way before bed time. That way we can sit down with a nice mulled wine in the evening and just chill.

*think the way their family did things during their childhood is the right way to do things.

Oh I couldn’t do that, the whole joy of crimbo morning is getting up and or-Ming thr presents with some champagne. What do you all do, just avoid looking at them? 😵‍💫

We eat around 2 or 3pm.

We stuff our faces with croissants, smoked salmon blinis and mini sausage rolls at around 8 am.
We graze on foodie gifts /nibbles until the big meal.

We don't eat a meal in the evening... it's a 'fend for yourself' evening.

We prefer to go all out on Boxing Day .

Christmas dinner is always in the evening for us. My husbands family do a Christmas lunch and I find it odd. Plus there is so much stress cooking so early in the day .

We have croissants or other pastries at 8am. We then open presents. Dinner is at 1-2pm. Then we just chill out all afternoon and evening, and eat leftovers and chocolate in the evening 😁

I couldn't imagine having a big meal like a Christmas dinner in the evening!

Technically it is Christmas Dinner no matter what time you eat it. A Dinner is the principal meal of the day, usually eaten in the evening nowadays, but on Christmas Day some people move it forward to 1pm ish. But the main meal of the day is still called Dinner no matter what time you eat it. Drives me nuts when people incorrectly call it Christmas Lunch.

We have ours about 2. And no we don't get hungry again in the evening. Maybe eat a few chocolates. But a big dinner plus Christmas pudding keeps us full for the day.

I do a Christmas Day parkrun so I have breakfast around 7.30.

Yanbu. We have always had ours at about 5pm. Plenty of time to unwrap presents and then cook. Even when the dc were babies - they had their usual afternoon naps.

We have substantial grazing food and booze up until dinner time!

It's breakfast, dinner and tea here. Gets on my wick when people think dinner is the evening meal everywhere.

We don't cook Christmas day, who wants to spend the afternoon cooking when you can spend proper time with the kids/family? Main meal is around 1pm, then mega nibbles for.the rest of it.

To be fair I didn’t explain well, that was when I was a child. We had stockings in the morning and presents after dinner.

When my parents were alive and with my family we opened our presents at home in the morning and then presents at my parents house after dinner.

I actually prefer waiting as the anticipation builds! And it’s not all over by 7am!

We're Scottish and when we lived in England everyone thought we were strange for not eating at 1 then watching the Queen

I live in England and have never ever watched the Queen's speech. I doubt very much that I am the only one!

We sit down at about 4/5pm. Our dc have never been early risers and we have family who turn up just after midday so we do stockings, breakfast, dh starts doing kitchen stuff, come back to do tree presents.
family turn up and we have sausage rolls and other nice home baked stuff, family presents, drinks and then dinner late afternoon which spills into early evening. Quick turnaround to get cleared up and kitchen tidy before friends and neighbours come round for the evening, drinks and buffet (which we are never ready for until about 10pm 😂).

Always had Christmas dinner around 3pm, like to have room in the evening for cheese and party food. Christmas breakfast is usually some selection box chocolates and toast

Christmas presents opened before breakfast is a must, making kids wait all day looking at them is just wrong 🤣

I’ve never ever seen the queens speech and I’m certainly not ever planning on watching a kings one either!

I don’t think it’s the evening meal everywhere. I’ve lived in 4 different countries and 12 counties in England, north and south, so well aware of regional differences. It’s my evening meal though 🤷🏻‍♀️.

We always eat Christmas dinner in the evening, usually between 6 and 7.

We have a big brunch at about 10am.

I can't imagine having a full meal in the middle of the day.

Because left over roasties, picky bits and cheese is the best for Christmas Day supper 🎉

We have ours at a weird no-man's land time of about 4pm.

We are in the blissful stage of having young adult kids, so the day now has a slow start.

Have never watched the queen's speech in my life, won't be tuning in this year either.

We usually have Christmas dinner anywhere between 1-3pm. I like to get cooking out of the way and then enjoy playing games with the children and eating choccies all afternoon/evening 😍

We eat around 5pm on Christmas Day, nice breakfast and just wine after that!
the kids are anyways happy to eat later on too so they can have some selection box’s 😂

So it's Christmas dinner no matter what time you have it. There's no such thing as a Christmas lunch. That just sounds weird