Who has Xmas dinner and who likes to go out/have a takeaway?

[User727]

Will be having Christmas with the in laws this year. They don’t have Christmas dinner, they usually get a takeaway curry. Me and DH have been married for 4 years, together for 7. We have never spend Christmas Day going over to his mums. We have hosted a few times and she’s come to us, but usually we go to my family’s as his mum isn’t really bothered and doesn’t do much on the day.

This year we asked if she is planning anything for Christmas and would she like to spend it with us? She said yes and asked if we can go to hers, which we agreed. She text me the other day saying she has booked a meal out (curry). Now it’s not a MASSIVE deal. I’m not crying, I’m not throwing a tantrum or thinking she’s ruined Christmas or anything daft like that. It’s just one year and I will get over it. However i do feel a bit disappointed.

I never realised not having a home cooked Christmas dinner was a big thing. However these days I do know more and more people who are doing it as it takes the pressure and stress of doing the dinner which I understand.

Would you say having a Christmas dinner is an important part of Christmas for you, or do you prefer to eat something else/go for a meal?

I’d love to go out for Christmas dinner but my family don’t want to. I wouldn’t want a takeaway.

We always have traditional Christmas lunch, whether at home or out. The few times that we went out, it was incredibly expensive and rather a disappointment tbh compared with home cooked.

One reason that I prefer Christmas lunch in that you can get lots of leftover food for Boxing Day.

I had a proper wobble when my sister in law cooked lamb instead of turkey; I completely understand where you're coming from!

However, I'd say go with the flow and then either have a traditional Christmas dinner on boxing day or New Year's Eve 🤣

We did go out for it last year as well with DH’s dad’s side of the family. But that was for an actual Christmas dinner. This year we are going to an Indian for a curry and it just feels so wrong 😂

I wouldn't want to go out for dinner on Christmas Day but I'd be fine with a takeaway eaten at home.
Can you compromise and ask if that can be done?

Going out to get a Christmas meal cooked and served by someone else, no problem.
Going out for a curry, no that wouldn't be for me at all.

We have gone out to a posh Indian restaurant for the last 5 years, just the 4 of us.
None of us like roast dinners and we prefer not to spend xmas Day with anyone else

I know a surprising number of people who go for the curry/takeaway option because they just dont like a roast or want the faff.
I love a traditional Christmas dinner, but I have a secret wish that one year we could just spend the day grazing on chocolate, cheese + biscuits, pretzels etc. and not bother with an official dinner at all!

We go out and it’s great, no mess or washing up, plus it’s always a really nice vibe and we have a good chat to the people working and make sure we leave a hefty tip. My parents are too old to bother with making it at home and my house isn’t big enough really. I can’t remember the last time I had Christmas dinner at home - either mine or anyone else’s.

We go out for a meal.

I absolutely LOVE home made Christmas dinner but I have three young (but growing too fast) children and time I spend cooking Christmas dinner on Christmas day is time that I am not spending with them. I am also a complete arse perfectionist about Christmas dinner so it became not fun.

So now we go out on Christmas day. We don't live in the UK and while Christmas is celebrated, 25th Dec is not a Big Deal as it is in the UK, so we take a game or something with us - and just enjoy being together and the prospect of no dishes! Then on Boxing Day when everyone else just wants to chill I go mad in the kitchen but without the pressure that exists on Christmas Day to shoehorn everything in.

It was a big change for me - the big family Christmas dinners, mostly hosted by my parents were a big part of my growing up. But this is what works for our family now.

I don't like going out on Christmas. It's overpriced as it is, I don't want to be surrounded by random strangers on Christmas, plus taxis are triple the price and if you drive you can't drink, I want a drink on Christmas day!

I don't tend to do a whole turkey as DS doesn't like turkey, so I just buy a small crown. I buy pre made veg and potatoes that just need chucking in the oven.

I love curry but I wouldn’t want it for Christmas, no. But if everyone else wanted it I would probably do it for one/ a couple of years and do a turkey dinner some other time close to Christmas.

She shouldn't have booked without checking you actually wanted to go.

DH has cooked Christmas dinner for the last 24 years but who knows what we might choose in the future.

I wouldn't want to go out for Christmas dinner full stop. Very expensive, you can't control the timings or the pirtions. And as for going out for a curry....you can do that any time of year, doesn't feel very special to me.

I would absolutely hate to have a takeaway or a curry on Christmas day! And i would probably decline the invitation on that basis.

I might contemplate going to a restaurant if it served Christmas dinner but I'm not even that pushed on that idea.

The only way non traditional would work for me is if we're away out of the country. One year we spent Christmas in NYC in a gorgeous hotel & we had a huge brunch in their restaurant which was famous for Xmas day brunch & new yorkers were queueing around the block but because we were residents we had a table.

We went for a long walk & drinks & NY cheesecake in Katz deli in the aftenoon

Had amazing cocktails in a cocktail bar & then had room service cheeseburger - hotel had a secret speakeasy burger joint!

That was an epic Christmas day!

We and virtually all our friends are in agreement that Christmas 2020 was excellent. At home, Chinese takeaway, no pressure for anything approaching perfection.

We usually go to my parents, who do a fairly relaxed version of Christmas dinner: really just a Sunday roast XL. We’re not really a food motivated family so it suits, and I think that approach is manageable. I read threads where people are hand-wringing about cooking five courses, four types of meat, “matching” accompaniments for each, getting all the timings right, worrying about really inconsequential shit; and it all just sounds pointlessly stressful considering nobody will remember any of it by Boxing Day.

Yes I relate to big family Christmas dinners growing up. That’s what it was like for me as well. Apart from the toys, it was my favourite part of the day, where we all sat around the table in our paper hats pulling crackers. Sunday roast is my fave meal too so I really look forward to my Christmas dinner. Going out for a curry just doesn’t have the same feel and vibe that I love about Christmas Day. Can totally appreciate your situation though and when/if I have kids in the future I may also do this!

I would love to go out for Christmas dinner. However I just can't afford to so I will be cooking again. I think a takeaway is a bit sad on Christmas day but not everyone is the same 🫤

I find roast meh, always have. I’ve had a nice roast but it is still something that would never ever be something I must have.

I’m happy with a curry. Saying that, I rather do a takeaway instead of trying to bring 3 children (one sen and a 12 mo) to a restaurant. It would not be enjoyable or relaxing in the slightest.

I cook at home. To be honest, I never found it any more difficult than making a Sunday roast. I don't bother with turkey, everyone hates it anyway. I don't object to having a Christmas meal out. We did it a couple of times with friends but I draw a line at an Indian meal.

Where we go on Xmas Day for a curry IS special. Its a special xmas event with a different menu. Not cheap but it IS Xmas
I appreciate its not for everyone but its what we do and we enjoy it.
We went to various peoples houses/hosted/cooked and then decided to do this instead and it suits us very well

We decided not to do a traditional dinner last year as neither of the DCs like it and the older one has ASD - the amount of time I spend prepping it, and then the expectation.of eating it, doesn’t work for him. So last year we had a buffet with lots of posh canapés, pizza, crisps, crudités, sausage rolls, etc, and everyone could eat whatever they liked. It worked really well!

I did feel a bit sad as a traditional Christmas dinner was a huge part of the day for me as a child and as an adult - but it just doesn’t work for us at the moment.

Personally, I wouldn’t want to go out on Christmas Day and definitely not for a takeaway so I do get how you feel.

DH doesn't like Christmas dinner and we both like curry so we have been out for a curry some years, sometimes with friends.

Last year we did family Christmas at home and this year we're going out again (but not curry. ) It's the endless washing up that gets me down when we do Christmas at home. Every item of cutlery and crockery, every utensil and every baking tray etc. seems to get used. It's endless.

Oh no! I absolutely love my Christmas dinner! I especially love the leftovers sandwiches that night and then the more relaxed leftovers buffet the next day! I wouldn't like going out even for a Christmas dinner unless they'd let me take a load of leftovers home!! I defintely would not like to go for any other type of meal or have a takeaway at home etc. I understand others will want that, but for me the Christmas dinner is the highlight of the festive season

Not important to me. Been away in Asia for 4 out of the last 5 Xmas days so no traditional turkey dinner. Only had one in 2020 due to covid restrictions scuppering my plans.
When in UK often used to do to the curry house. Why create work and hassle over a glorified roast dinner