To ask if anyone else has NEVER cooked Christmas dinner

[OrtolanLBunting]

Or lunch depending on when you have the main meal.

I'm well into middle age but have never done it. Am happy to peel veg, set the table, clear away and wash up every single thing.

But cook it - never! wouldn't know where to start. And don't go saying it's just a Sunday roast cos I've never done one of those either.

Anyone else?

I'm 48 and started hosting the wider family a few years ago. I'd never cooked a Christmas dinner before. I don't eat meat so the thought of cooking this massive turkey was really quite daunting! I was sure I'd give everyone food poisening. It was fine though. I just follow the instructions on the packet and it's always cooked perfectly. I prepare all the side dishes in advance so on the day there's less to do.
I have to say my Christmas dinners have been a real success!

This absolutely blows my mind. I’m 61 and have cooked 43, yes 43 Christmas dinners!! No idea how you’ve got away with it, well done, I’m envious.

Also unusual, surely? Do you spend Xmas with any other adult (other than perhaps your partner, if you are generally the cook in your household)? Won't they take a turn?

I've done 10 now and I'm definitely starting to drop hints that it is the turn of my sister and her husband very soon. I've been waiting for them to have enough space and not so young children but the time is definitely coming...

But I guess if you only spend Xmas with partner/kids then I maybe not so surprising.

Those of you who are vegetarian, I can understand not cooking turkey / other meat, but have you never cooked a special meal for Christmas, including for others - or st other celebratory times?

Personally no. I’ve never cooked a meal for anyone who doesn’t live in my house.

Special occasions etc we always eat out.

Ive never attended or hosted a dinner party in my life.

Some of us have our birthday on December 25th......like heck am I going to cook a full-on roast on my birthday. I've done it once and won't be doing it again.

I can't imagine that the fact it was my birthday would change things at all here! All the reasons for me to cook Xmas dinner (size of house, location of house, age of children, ability to cook a large dinner well) would still have led to me doing it for the last 10 years, though I am pushing for a change soon. In any case, I've quite often cooked a multi-course dinner for a table full of people on my birthday.

Good for you, but on my birthday I want something I actually enjoy cooking and eating. A roast dinner is not high on my list of enjoyable meals anytime of the year and definitely not on my birthday.

Never.

I take DH out on his birthday. Give him a break from cooking.

Not solo, no. I expect could if I really applied myself, in which case it would involve a number of items I could prepare ahead of time and would feature fewer dishes than you might expect to see. I am not a good multi-tasker!

DH expects quite a varied spread, so he either does all of it while I lay the table, wash up as he goes along, and prep veg under his direction - or sometimes we each do some of the dishes.

No, never. In the days when we had Christmas dinner I was working and my mother had retired. She knew how to cook, I don't. These days neither of us cooks, our meals are served by the retirement village we live in, and I'm her carer. I don't know the first thing about cooking - I was put off it for life by a horrible Home Eco teacher in the 70s. Also don't care about Christmas at all these days.

Because my mother in law is too infirm these days to do it and I couldn’t bear her going without, which is what would happen if I didn’t offer.

My MIL also loves seeing our nephew (as do I) on Christmas Day and they all only live round the corner. I don’t feel it is right to split the family in two over dinner if I’m making extra for my family and mother in law anyway. It feels even worse if I just invited her for dinner but told them they could only come over two hours later.

Me.
Dh likes to do it

We're skipping Christmas dinner altogether this year. There won't be any staff at the village (quite rightly) so dinners will be saved in the fridge for reheating. I remember that last year it was a very uninspiring meal - rather dry slices of turkey and ham, neither of which I like much, and vegetables. I'm going to buy frozen dinners instead. Mum fancies chicken risotto.

Why can't your DP do it? Or share it? Have you tried asking your SIL to do it, or do some of it? Rather than doing it and resenting no one else doing it, use words - for all you know everyone else might assume you want to do it, or wouldn't like things to be different. Personally I'd rather people say what they feel, rather than martyring and hoping I'll guess and offer to do what they want.

I think there are a fair few Christmas Roast Martyrs on this thread.

My sister in law doesn’t know one end of a saucepan from the other. They do warm ups. She’s terrified of the kitchen so it will never happen.

Husband does help but my point is it would be nice if the onus wasn’t on our household every year.

I've never cooked a roast either. I expect I could, I just don't think they are worth the time or effort.

If it’s just meat and two veg you are doing it wrong. That’s not Christmas dinner.
Lobster’s lovely too though.

Ditto. I don’t enjoy a roast dinner I’d rather cook the sort of food that I like eating.

I don't cook. Most I do is help out!

Oh come on, your SIL knows one end of a saucepan from the other and is not literally terrified of the kitchen, that's just silly. You said 'I've had to do it every year for the last 15 years', but now it's not just you but your household doing it.

If you want things to change you need to say so. If you prefer to do xmas dinner yourself rather than eat whatever SIL/Dnephew/DH/whoever is capable of that's a choice but it's not anyone else's fault if you don't want to cook for them, don't want to ask them to take part of the job, and don't trust their ability to do it to your liking.

Anyway, I'm a veggie, Xmas day is my birthday, and I have never and will never cook Xmas dinner no matter how much my SILs might disapprove (as far as I know they don't but even if they did, still no).

Never done it. Never will. I hate cooking (although I love eating!)

I’m surprised at how many have never done it. Not even once. Or a Sunday roast.

How wonderful!

I’ve never cooked one and am nearly 70. Always went home to my parents then my sister took over, thankfully, when my mother died.