Is My Christmas Menu Ok?

[Hour]

Just wanting some inspo really. Any constructive criticism would be appreciated.

I will be doing:

appetisers (husband does these)
brie and cranberry bites
smoked salmon and fake caviar blinis
pear and melon or a chicken caeser salad skewer

main
Chicken ballotine (basically a roulade with stuffing)
brussel sprouts with bacon bits
honey roasted rainbow carrots
roast potaoes
roast parsnips
cabbage
pigs in blanket
gravy

pudding
homemade Yule log
Christmas pudding (bought)
Panne cotta (teen son will make)

posh coffee and homemade minced pies in the evening

I would do a cheeseboard but I’d rather serve it on Boxing Day with leftovers as in my experience my lot don’t eat it.

We’re a no mash family, I think because we much prefer roasties so would all rather have extra roasties instead of mash.

Sounds wonderful!

That is a menu that I would love to eat 95% of, reading it made me hungry, so sounds good to me 😅.
It's all except the pigs in blankets things I would do with a nice roast dinner at any time of year, so what is your aim? A good family meal or are you wanting a wow factor christmas special gluttoney fest? As it sounds like a nice balanced roast dinner without going crazily overboard with things that won't get eaten. Provided your portion sizes for the chicken are fairly generous?
My personal preference is for some plainer veg, everything roasted or in some kind of fat can be pretty heavy, I like steamed carrots, braised red cabbage (make ahead which is handy) mashed sweet potato, steamed cabbage or kale or some kind of green (Im biased as hate sprouts) . But that depends on your target audience, I'm sure some people would say that is dull!
I love veg and in our co operatively made Christmas dinner last year I think I did 7 or so different ones

Yorkshire puddings go with every good roast meal in my family (rural Devon if it makes any difference) and especially good with gravy.

Cauliflower cheese with a roast is a disgusting and bizarre creation I'd never even heard of until my 20s. I blame the pub trade, lowering the tone 🤣

As a christmas special I might add a home made sausage meat stuffing. Cooked in a dish or balls so it's nice and crispy.
Cranberry or redcurrant sauce
Chestnuts in with the sprouts?

Does your family all like posh coffee? I'd be gutted to not have tea on offer, and mince pies are vile so need some shortbread/festive biscuits tin on standby too 😅

brie and cranberry bites - no, brie and cranberry not a good mix
smoked salmon and fake caviar blinis - I would just have the salmon unless you have real caviar
pear and melon or a chicken caeser salad skewer - melon doesn't belong on a Christmas menu, but the rest OK
main
Chicken ballotine (basically a roulade with stuffing) chicken isn't very festive - goose, turkey or duck would be better
brussel sprouts with bacon bits - no need to spoil the sprout flavour with bacon
honey roasted rainbow carrots - great
roast potaoes - great
roast parsnips - great
cabbage - great
pigs in blanket - can't stand them personally but they are popular so OK
gravy - great
pudding
homemade Yule log - great
Christmas pudding (bought)- great
Panne cotta (teen son will make) - great
posh coffee and homemade minced pies in the evening- great

'smoked salmon and fake caviar blinis - I would just have the salmon unless you have real caviar'

I disagree with this @UndeniablyGenX, a blini with good smoked salmon, bit of finely chopped red onion, dab of crème fraîche and some keta (salmon) eggs is perfect.

It would be a waste of sturgeon roe to mix with smoked salmon.

I like a dollop of ossetra on a quail's egg, smidge of soured cream, chopped chives, perfection!

Sounds amazing. We don't do appetisers/starters as we want to save our appetites for the main event. We do a bit more veg and add Yorkshire puddings and bread sauce/cranberry.
Dessert is crumble and custard or cream, Christmas cake, and my DD may make something chocolaty but she's not that keen on dessert.

Good job you're not going to @Hour for Christmas dinner then!

Yesterday I had a cranberry and Brie pastry thing and it was divine.

Scrap the cabbage (bland and not Christmassy imo) and replace with red cabbage cooked in apple juice which you can do well before and freeze.

I'd do turkey instead of the chicken thing. Again because it's Christmassy but also because I LOVE turkey and it's the only day of the year that you have it.

Sage and onion stuffing.

Scrap appetisers. Christmas dinner is massive and the best dinner of the year, you don't need started or appetisers just takes up stomach space unnecessarily.

Needs cranberry sauce.

I'd rather have mince pies and custard or cream for dessert, and Yule log later with coffee.

Not essential but we do parsnips in maple syrup and coarse grain mustard and they are delicious!!!

A question for the "yorkies with beef ONLY" crowd- do you think vegetarians just never eat yorkshire puddings?

Gosh,compared to a lot of you our dinner sounds ordinary.(but we love it!) 2 meats, possibly beef and gammon this year
Yorkshire pud,Brussels, carrots, parsnips,peas,roast red onion,bread sauce, cranberry,mash, roast tates, stuffing, lovely thick gravy.
Lemon roulade or homemade Christmas cake. Plenty of tea or coffee. Then sit stuffed on the sofa thinking I'll never want food again!
Merry Christmas everyone!
🎄⛄

Haha. DS who is a vegetarian will be making our Yorkshires. For him I have made a quinoa / nut / pepper loaf which sounds dull but I made it last year and it was fab. As always the meat eaters snaffled it as well but it's big enough for everyone to have a chunk and leftovers as well.
It's actually the meat eaters who are fussy here. I don't like lamb, DH doesn't like Turkey and the other DS doesn't like chicken. I may do ham.

Looks pretty perfect to me - we don't need mash, yorkshire puddings or cauliflower cheese. The cabbage should be red and spiced, and I'd like same cranberry and bread sauce please. I'd be disappointed not be have a little nibble of cheese on Christmas day.