Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve?

[tulpe]

Does anyone else do this?

Some friends of ours have this tradition. They argue that nobody wants to be spending half the day in the kitchen on Christmas day so they have a their main christmas meal the night before, leaving Christmas day to focus on DCs and not be worrying about the turkey :)

Must admit to being very tempted to do this. DCs are too excited to sleep and it would be a grown up treat to stay up late and have posh dinner with parents. DCs unlikely to eat much through excitement of either day so not much to lose on that score either.

Hi Tulpe

We always have the big meal on Christmas Eve - a throwback to growing up in Africa where it was too hot to eat anything but icecream on the 25th!
Now we're over here we invite all our fab friends for a massive dinner party - we have Gammon, a suckling pig, turducken, a side or two of salmon, a veg lasagne, five different kins of veg, four different puds and cheese... its loads of work but is easy to clear the majority away before opening 1 prezzie each and going to bed! This leaves Xmas Day free for DVDS, long walks, church, leftovers and nursing hangovers... fab!

In most European countries this is the normal tradition.

When I was a kid we always had Xmas dinner on boxing day. My mum said it was because we were always too excited to eat on Xmas day, and also far more interested in the contents of our selection boxes

We have friends who do this every year as the husband has to work on Christmas Day.

They have turkey and all the trimmings plus the pud on Christmas eve and the children get to open a present.

The dad leaves for work very early and the mum and children have the leftovers as a second, reheated dinner along with other 'picky' little treats.

We have joined them on Christmas Day in the past and it still feels really Christmassy even though mum isn't slaving away in the kitchen

Thanks for replies :)

Faamily - yes DH is dutch and this is his family tradition to eat the main meal on christmas eve and have gifts.

I would imagine it feels more christmassy because you are not slaving away! There just never seems enough hours in the day itself to do everything but this would free up a substantial amount of my time. I am probably having one of those "they are growing up too quickly" days and am worried that all they will remember is me running back and forth from the kitchen :)

We used to do this when I was growing up, and I am seriously tempted to restart this tradition for me and DH and DD this year. Big roast turkey on Christmas Eve, cold turkey, cold ham, new potatoes and lots of crunchy salads on Christmas day for lunch.

Also, I really don't like roast dinners at all, so the prospect of hosting Christmas for the 12th year running for 6 people, spending the day cooking food I don't like isn't really appealing. Throwing a few salads together leaves lots more time for playing with DD and going for walks/down the village pub.

I do wonder if it is reasonable to impose this on the rest of my family though? Sister is a traditionalist and may revolt!

It's traditional to do this in Denmark too but so far we've only done it the year the inlaws were over. Mainly because we're normally working Christmas Eve and I don't want to be rushing around cooking a big meal after work. Now we have a meal Christmas Day evening instead, feels much more relaxed this way for some reason.

we do this xmas dinner is pizza or curry something.Were of to the pub xmas eve £15 a head for 3 courses plus coffee and mince pies .Ds3 and dd dinner is £6