To not understand why people eat at such strange times at Christmas?

[NumberSixtyTwo]

I really don't get why so many people choose to have Christmas dinner at times they'd never normally eat a meal. Like many seem to have it at 3 or 4pm. Normally no one eats at that time so why do it on Christmas day?

Why not have it at a normal lunch time, like about 1pm, or a proper evening meal time?

Having it in between normal meal times surely just means you're too hungry or not hungry enough?

in my case its because my son cant pick my grandson up from his moms till 4pm

We are eating at 2. Enough time for the kids to have breakfast, all the gifts to be opened and the mess sorted. Guests to arrive from midday, champagne and canapés and then dinner and after for games and relaxing ( and all the clearing up) before my kids go to their dads at 6.30. Boxing Day is child free bliss .

I may be wrong but judging by most of my colleagues and family, most women haven't eaten anything till they get home from work and childcare pickup at 5/5:30?
I don't have time for breakfast and occasionally eat lunch but an average day is fuelled solely on coffee and snacks until tea!

Do we?

Nobody told me or many of the people I know.

Out of curiosity, where do you get your statistics from?

@NumberSixtyTwo perhaps each to their own. We are a Christmas Day brunch 10 - 11 and then aim for 5pm for big dinner family So no supper but plenty of left overs for those peckish ( rarely so . )

I think your opinion sounds IMHO overly regimented but if that suits you it suits you . It doesn't suit my family. We can cope with eating at different times of the day on different day but there you go. I shall raise a glass to you at 1pm when I am glazing parsnips etc.

Happy Christmas 🎄

Kids 6am: chocolate and maybe cereal
Brunch 11am: whatever you like but definitely some savoury stuff incl pork pie and fizz. This is when we open presents
Main meal 4pm
Top-ups 8-9pm - sandwiches, leftovers etc

I think everyone can do what they want but I just can't stomach a hot meal in the middle of the afternoon.

When DD was small we were up and running at 7am and had breakfast at 8am, no way chocolate can tide me over until 7 hours later.

It's just the three of us so I cook a roast the same size as a normal Sunday one and all other things don't really take that much longer so lunch is 1pm with no issues.

We have a big breakfast so not ready for a meal at lunch time, waiting till evening is too long so yes we eat about 3 or 4. It works for me and mine, seems odd to me that anyone would spare the headspace to speculate about when other people eat.

I’m too busy taking it easy, to cook any earlier.

Not unlike many of my weekends though, busy mornings not getting home till 1:30 ish so we will make a late lunch. I don’t think it’s unusual to eat at that time on a weekend

Late breakfast, late lunch here. Nibbles available inbetween. I won't be stuck to a time, it'll be ready when it's ready. It's not a normal day is it?

Maybe it’s a bit like the fact that weddings are now so expensive and complicated that couples spend years on the planning and own two of every household gadget in existence before they get hitched.
Christmas dinner is now so ponced up and extensive it takes from dawn to dusk to cook and half the night to eat. This despite the great efficiency of the modern oven.

Well I'm a right greedy guts but even I couldn't eat a full English at 9am and then a massive Christmas dinner at 1pm.

I don't really understand all the confusion tbh. For most people, it's a day with an entirely different structure to every other day of the year. Different things are happening, visitors, travelling. I don't stick to any of my normal routine on Christmas Day, not just meals.

We have a big special breakfast about 10 ish after opening presents and walking the dog with other family in the village. Then we all graze on chocolates and the DH watches the kids while they play with their toys and I prep the food. Chill out a bit and spend time together. Then we're ready for dinner about 2:30/3pm. For tea we have leftovers, cheese, nibbles and dessert which I probably get out about 5:30pm and people just help themselves as and when they want.

If I stuck rigidly to 9am breakfast, 1pm lunch, 6pm dinner, it would just feel so rushed and busy on the morning. I much prefer to just take it a bit easier and focus on spending time together.

because we have a sleep in then cook a nice breakfast of salmon scrambled egg sausage and rashers with bucks fizz. then we go down to watch the charity swim in the sea (live by the beach) catch up with people walk dogs. then back to prepare dinner (normally watching home alone - that had become a stable while peeling spuds for some strange reason ) then dinner between 2 or 4 Depending on who coming. if sis she has kids it's earlier if my mother later as she works on morning. if in laws also later as bit of a drive
more importantly who bloody cares its the one day you can do anything you want. if you want to stay in bed all day eating selection boxes go for it or if you wanna serve a 10 course mastechef meal go for it. as long as you enjoy it that's all that matters

Well it’s me that’s cooking it and I can’t be arsed starting early enough to get everything ready by lunchtime and I don’t particularly want to wait until five.

Definitely worth an extra hour or two to get the crackling right, the roast potatoes and honey roast parsnips perfect and the gravy properly reduced.

If anyone doesn’t like it, they can do the cooking themselves. Funnily enough my family seem to think it’s worth the wait.

Working Christmas day.
The window to eat is between 2 and 4pm, or after 8pm.
After 8pm is too late for everyone, so mid afternoon it is.

On a normal day, I would have lunch at 11:30am and tea about 5pm. As no staff in, I will still be working at 5pm.

Having it in between normal meal times surely just means you're too hungry or not hungry enough?

I think that's the point. You eat more than you normally would on Christmas Day. If I was having Christmas lunch at 12 or 1 I'd struggle to eat as much as I'd like to. If I knew I'd be having Christmas lunch at 12 I'd probably skip breakfast so I'd be hungry enough but I like to eat breakfast (feel rubbish if I don't) so my preference for Christmas lunch is 2/3pm.

Also if I'm cooking a huge meal with 10 different components I don't want to be making another meal on the same day. Even with a huge lunch at 12 or 1 I'd still want some kind of meal for dinner later on.

We have Christmas lunch at lunchtime, probably around 1pm. Then, at about 6pm we have tea, which includes sandwiches, fruit and Christmas cake and/or Yule log if anyone has enough room for it.

As a child, Christmas tea was the meal I really looked forward to.

Whereas I really don't get why people are getting up at some ridiculous hour to get the turkey on so it's ready at 12 noon.

I like a lie in. I like to ease into the day, and actually there are lots of times we have a meal at 3 or 4...

I don't think anyone has mentioned weight?

You have to account for bucks fizz at breakfast and then presents, it puts the whole cooking time out of whack so 4pm is perfect. Plus the cheese.

It needs to be later than 1pm because I’m buggered if I’m getting up at the crack of dawn to start cooking. And it has to be earlier than supper time because I’m buggered if I’m going to be cooking lunch too.

Growing up in my family we didn't really have lunch. Just one big meal. So Christmas is the same. We eat around 4. Then time for presents and all of that. Then pudding cause everyone eats too much during dinner.

I'm with you OP. If it's not ready for lunch time then leave it till dinner time. If the roast is at 3 then I can't go through from breakfast till then with nothing, but if I start snacking then I'll not be hungry enough to eat the roast! Or I'll be keeling over and scarf it down so fast I don't enjoy it.
A million times worse with kids, no one wants hangry kids on Christmas Day. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Doesn't matter which one the roast is, but don't expect me or them to make it through to 3pm on a bacon butty and some nibbles!!

Yes, I think this is it, I just find it really stressful to have everything out of kilter. I know how much breakfast I can eat to have room for lunch at lunchtime, but no idea how many snacks I need to keep going until some bizarre time of 3 or 4pm so I find I always misjudge it.

Normally a late breakfast just means I eat a bit less or have a smaller lunch, I'm fine with that but I just find a totally random meal time really disconcerting.

This year I'm just at home with immediate family so it's not an issue but it's something that makes me find hosting/visiting others a bit difficult whereas apart from the timing issue I actually love spending it with lots of others.

Maybe I am just stuck in my ways, but I love Christmas dinner and like to do it justice and enjoy it to the full and a 3pm timing gets in the way of this.

Oh you are my people!