Christmas dinner police

[Namechangesecretsignature]

Can’t sleep and endlessly reading MN. Oh how I loathe the Christmas dinner police. Policing what “should” be on a Christmas dinner, calling it Christmas lunch (urgh), all the formalities and “musts”. Reminds me of my ex DP who was aghast for about 4 years straight that no one in my family liked turkey so we had beef for Xmas. His mother called my mother to clarify it was true (after a drink) and I’d go round to theirs over the Christmas period and the whole (large) family would be saying things like “I can’t believe you don’t have turkey on Christmas dinner.” “It’s not Christmas dinner without” “without turkey it’s tasteless” (????) “you must buy a turkey and a ham for Xmas even if it doesn’t get ate its tradtition” from the same people who buy 3 turkeys (Xmas day, New Year’s Day redo, then another on Easter(!!!!))

anyway I digress, I loathe it!

You ask why - because they’re very tasty! Hot or cold.
They’ve been a Thing for Christmas dinner for many decades, but when I was a child they were just called ‘bacon-wrapped sausages’. The ‘pigs in blankets’ term came later.

I’m a very strong believer that everyone should do what makes them happy (as long as it’s not hurting anyone else - but what you eat for Christmas dinner isn’t going to do that!)

I can't say I've seen threads with the "Christmas police". I've posted a typical Australian menu on MN, and no one bat an eyelid. I also mentioned much I dislike turkey and hate Brussels sprouts on a thread where 90% of posters loved them to pieces, and no one cared 😁

Honestly, I think the majority of posters, with few exceptions, understand that we all have different tastes, come from different cultures/countries, and traditions may be great, but are there to be broken if your family's taste buds want something different.

London is a big place.

Pigs in blankets are meh, never understood the obsession with them. We have herby chipolatas and devils on horseback

Same with cauli cheese and roast chicken. Someone mentioned not long ago that this is surely down to those carvery places, where everyone takes some of everything because everything is on offer, and so any home-cooked roast dinner seems impoverished by comparison unless all conceivable sides are offered, irrespective of longstanding custom.
I guess its hard to justify prescription, of course, but personally I like the various differing accompaniments to depend on the meat .

We had 40 degrees today in Sydney, and high 30s are predicted next week. Having the oven and the cook top for several hours may be a blessing in winter but it's a nightmare in high summer temperatures even with the air con.

Cooked prawns, lots of seafood, bbqs, salads and light deserts with lots of cold fresh fruits and ice-creams have become a new traditional Christmas lunch in Australia.

I never said it wasn't as I am actually quite aware that it is!

I did say though that I was born in north London and DH in south so quite a bit away from each other and we both call the evening meal "tea" and the "lunch time" meal "lunch".

This sounds lush.
Will you have Turkish Delight afterwards ?

I'm always in awe of people who cook loads of different veg for Christmas dinner.
It seems that because it's Christmas it's time to go all out and excess is the thing
A couple of friends admitted they would never cook all that veg for a Sunday dinner
Anyone else cook 11 different veg on Christmas day ?

Broccoli is Mediterranean, @Aluna? I have learned something new - thank you!

Yes, the 'pigs in blankets' thing is definitely an obsession, at least on MN.

I've tried them from time to time and they are ok, but I think it's WAY preferable to cook the little sausages separately (they tend to stay so pallid when cooked wrapped in bacon!) and make separate bacon rolls, which you can cook to a nice degree of crispness without worrying about the unpredictable sausage inside.

Crispy streaky bacon rolls, some interesting stuffings, roast potatoes, parsnips and gravy (and peas - sorry to pea-haters) are my favourite parts of the meal.

Well, now you've virtually met someone who, along with their friends and family, has called their evening meal (unless having a "dinner party" in the evening), "supper" for nearly 7 decades

There's far too much subversion going on here for my liking. Just for one day, why can't everything be like it was in the Eighties!!! Turkey, overcooked veg, Grandma falling asleep with her paper hat all crooked, and the Queen's speech! I'm perfectly modern the other 364 days.

Signed,
The Christmas Police

I make no secret of it.

Not for us who have dinner then tea

If it’s at 4 or before 7 is it Christmas high tea 😉

Well, lock me up and throw away the key… because I will be giving the traditional Christmas dinner a miss and eating cheese and chocolate all day 😁

I really don't much like whole turkeys either, however you cook them there's a lot of dryish white meat. Also the breast meat is so dense that they take ages to cook. We have a cockerel now which weighs around 4.5kg, is more tasty and cooks more quickly.
Sadly my DH loves turkey (everything his DM produced was dry and overcooked anyway, she always put joints in the oven at 7am) so I get a slow-cooked turkey joint from M&S which serves 4-6 people. It's pre-cooked in a sous vide, ready stuffed and really OK, he's happy with this and it gives us some white meat for another day too.

Theres lots of strange food rules from people on these types of threads, not just about Christmas

Its Christmas dinner, or lunch, or snack or breakfast, who cares

we didnt grow up having turkey, it was expensive and my parents didnt like the flavour anyway, we had a capon as did everyone else we knew

I like the sides anyway more than the main meat

More food rules on the site in general are what makes a 'meal', how much protein one should have, what makes a breakfast, how you shouldnt and cant put different combinations together, its endless.

I cook the sausages and bacon separately too because I like them both properly browned and they take different amounts of time - though we don't roll the bacon. We love frozen peas too, though one DD hates them, largely because we didn't each much else when she was a child as DH would eat very few other vegetables. I make my own cranberry sauce because it is very easy, more fruity than the bought stuff, and we like to have a lot of it.

My DD puts her tree and decorations up very early, usually November, and the lot come down on Boxing day. I'm always really pleased to take the cards down and look forward to having my space back. We don't have room for the tree inside now (we live in a flat) so we have it outside on the balcony where it can't interfere with normal life....

She takes them down on the second day of Christmas? Ok. I don’t know what she’s celebrating but it’s not Christmas.

Ham in cola here