Xmas Day - Lunch at 4pm - AIBU

[Moonshine5]

Following heated debate and reading a variety of threads. What say you Mumsnet community?
🎅
AIBU - that's a ridiculous time for Christmas lunch
YANBU - perfectly normal you heathens (note this is a light-hearted thread)

Unless it's their dinner. Later works for us but that's because it's the kids' "dinner time" and they have lunch/brunch earlier.

Christmas lunch at 1pm, then a post lunch walk before it gets dark. Tackle the washing up when we get home. CBA with queen's/king's speech! 🤣🤣🤣

We have ours about 1pm and then chicken sandwiches about 6pm and graze as wanted. Personally it's far too large a meal to eat at night as you'd be digesting it whilst trying to sleep and I'd get heartburn.

But then there's us awkward northerners with "dinner" and "tea" not lunch and dinner 😂😉

Yes, I can see that this work.
When my brothers 3 children were small Christmas days of course were noisy and chaotic! Brother and SIL had a great idea: for a few years they changed their tradition and had Christmas dinner around 6pm on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day was child-oriented, present opening and games with a cold buffet. they reverted back to Christmas Day dinner when the children were 12+.

I think it's ridiculous to call a meal at 4pm 'lunch', and honestly, it's not when I'd ever plan to sit down to a large meal. Ideally a Christmas lunch would begin sometime around 12 to 1 or a large evening meal would begin no earlier than 5, but I recognise that different people have different schedules, and on a special occasion mealtimes fluctuate more than usual.

@HashtagShitShop I was going to say this! As a northerner, it's the one day of the year where I will allow 'dinner' to be called 'tea' as we don't eat until 4pm on Christmas Day!

Every other day is dinner and tea. I can make an exception only for Christmas Day and that's it 😂

May I introduce you to my friend "Wedding Breakfast"?

Lol. When I first heard this as a child I thought ‘Oooo - fancy having egg and bacon when you’ve just got married!’ 😀

Cooked breakfast 8:30, country walk, back for seafood platter and champagne at 11ish, turkey dinner at 3:30/4 giving plenty of time for turkey sandwiches and ham at 8:00

There is no reasonable or unreasonable for this as it varies so much.

Some families have theirs at 11am, others anything between 12pm and 6pm.
My family was always around 2pm but in laws usually eat around 5-6pm.

11 am?! What??!!

We always do:

Up at the absolute crack of sparrows cause the kids are over excited. We have cuppa and biscuits during present opening.
Around 9ish - bacon rolls, bucks fizz, croissants, fresh fruit etc (picky so everyone can have what they want)
Christmas 'dinner' is around 3. Honestly this is just because that's what my mum always did! Last year I did make some sausage rolls for the kids around lunchtime to tide them over.
Then in the evening, we had a cheese board etc.
We then do leftover xmas meats with bubble and squeak on boxing day.
Each to their own!

@Ilovecleaning 4pm wouldn't have been too bad - it was usually 8pm time he rocked up and was ready.

How is presents in the morning madness? We have a 4yo

I have to decline family invites if the food is that late. I'm back at the farm around 4:30pm for evening stables.

i like having our Christmas lunch, at you know, lunch time. then just snacks in the eve!

May I just say that Christmas day isn't the best day to learn how to cook using an Aga. No fucker told me that if you open the lids the heat is drawn away from the ovens.
That was a late one!

We eat at around 4 on Christmas day and it's perfect for our family
We get up, do stockings and then have a substantial breakfast (bacon sandwiches or something)
Then we get showered/dressed, open tree presents and then head out for a walk.
Hot chocolate, mince pies etc when we get home. Then dinner at 4pm.
In the evening we don't usually eat much as were stuffed but there is obviously cheese, cold meats, chocolates etc and usually we have our pudding in the evening as we were too full after dinner to manage it.

We cook the turkey and prep the veg the day before etc so if doesn't take long on the day. Or we often have lamb instead of turkey so that just cooks in the slow cooker. If we had the main meal earlier than 4 we wouldn't be able to get out for a bit of fresh air and it would all feel so rushed.

We eat about 1pm and then have buffet about 6

I agree that there's no 'rule' or right way - whatever suits your family is fine.

The only thing that annoys me though, when I've been a guest (which is only at my sister's...) is saying the meal will be served at a certain time and then it being 2 hours late with no particular reason. I do like to have some idea of how the day will pan out so I can plan my chocolate consumption.

We always had to eat ‘early’ by 1pm
due to my FIL stomach issues. Now he is in a nursing home so we don’t have him we can do what we like.

The last couple of years we have had our started about 12, main at about 3.30/4pm and dessert at 6pm.

It’s worked much better, we get to have a lighter breakfast and don’t tend to need supper.

Isn't that what time Christmas Lunch is?

It's ready when it's ready, which is highly dependant on how much pink fizz the cooks (me and my mum) have consumed.
No one seems bothered. We aren't under any pressure, and usually get it on the table around 5pm. Although the year tequila was introduced was a bit of a disaster, never to be repeated.

Sorry not read all the thread.

It really depends on who is eating with you. We have two young grandchildren who get "hangry" if they don't eat on time, so we would either do lunch time or supper time, not in between. I'm sure somebody will suggest giving them a snack to tide them over but then they won't eat the meal.

Yes, Agas take a bit of getting used to. But better than the Christmas day when my friend had her inlaws coming for a 1.00 lunch and forgot to take the turkey out of the freezer. She had to hack it up then bring it round to me to defrost in the microwave.