Am I the only person who thinks that cooking a christmas lunch isn't such a big deal?

[Ormirian]

It's a big roast dinner with some extra bits. No?

And if you open the wine at about midday it's even easier

Exactly -it is probably only the number attending that makes it unusual perhaps.

Well I might discover that for myself this year. We're heading for 11 at the moment

Vegetable steamer is the key

It's a big deal if you're poncy enough to make brussel sprouts in ginger and fois gras and every vegetable/potato utterly different.

Otherwise it's just roast dinner.

You are completely right, it ISN'T a big deal.

Well I am definitely not poncey then

We have all the traditional stuff. I make bread pudding and chestnut stuffing and MIL's recipe for sausagemeat stuffing - but those can be done the day before. Ditto mince pies. Pudding and cakes made months before. We have something cold as a starter (if anything). Lots of veg but no fiddled with ones.

It doesn't have to be a big deal but some of us (well, me) get a bit carried away and go for four courses, two types of stuffing, homemade cranberry & bread sauces, five different veggies cooked in increasingly poncified ways and a choice of three puddings. Then start drinking with breakfast and wonder why we can't quite pull of a banquet for 14 :)

Not this year.

That's exactly what I think Ormirian. If I do a roast chicken for Sunday lunch, I also tend to do stuffing, sausages/pigs in blankets, bread sauce, etc with it. A turkey is just a big chicken innit?

Also, you can cheat a lot more at Christmas - no starter, nibbles instead, pre-made (or shop bought) Christmas pud, etc.

More effort is required to lay the table, etc., but the actual cooking is not much more effort than a nice Sunday lunch.

I don't get the big fuss either. I like all the extra little bits, but as long as there's turkey and shedloads of roasties then we're all happy!

Set the table the night before, prep the veg, visit M&S for anything I can't be bothered to make and job's a good un.

Well it's not going to be a big deal for me this year because i am not cooking it

Never was anyway for me but MIL always overdoes all the courses and wonders why we can't manange to eat dessert (choice of 5 and you have to have at least 2 or feelings are hurt). When we hosted i showed her how not a big deal it was and so this year i hope she has taken on board what we have proved.

Prove will be in the pudding as the saying goes

In my house it is less of a deal tham most meals I make. To start with, here, it is only for 3 (me, Dh and DD) instead of cooking for guests on top.

And I keep Christmas Day simple as I don;t want to miss out on all the fun. I love cooking, but chose my recipes carefully so that prep and involvement in the kitchen is minimal on Christmas Day - I want to be drinking fizz and playing with DD.

DD wants duck this year and it is her turn to chose (DH and DD take turns.) I don't eat meat but not sure what I am having yet.

Oh yes laying the table is more faff than usual but I enjoy that bit!

BTW when I said bread pudding, I meant bread sauce! I don't serve bread pudding with turkey and sprouts.

I agree. The only difference for us on the day is something like lobster for a starter and champers for brekkie! Other than that, it is a roast dinner which I do loads during the year anyway!

I disagree, its a much bigger deal
We never have 4 courses normally and veg is usually just 4 or 5 choices, where we have 10-12 choices for Xmas lunch

So that alone necessitates more oven space and rings

Then there is the fact that I absolutely want it to be perfect

I love cooking Christmas dinner, but it is much more work than a standard Sunday roast (or maybe you all have very flash Sunday roasts and I dont...)

10-12 choices of veg? what on earth do you have? We have carrots, brussels and roast parsnipa nd roast pots. thats it

Depends on how many trimmings you do, and how organised you are.

I do a chicken, usually, with stuffing, chipolatas, bacon rolls, bread sauce, gravy, roast potatoes, parmesan roast parsnips and sprouts. Then Christmas pudding and brandy sauce for dessert.

But I make the stuffing, prepare the bacon rolls/chipolatas/parsnips/sprouts/bread for bread sauce all the night before. It's not too bad on the day, so long as someone will ply me with wine while I'm busy in the kitchen .

It's as easy or as difficult as you want to make it (eg courses, numbers attending, choices of veg..).
To me, it's just a slightly larger Sunday lunch 'cos it's just me, DH & DS, three courses & after eight mints.
The only thing that's different is that I cook two meats instead of one.

I don't do all the 'ooh, but you've GOT to have x, it's Christmas!' gubbins I get from my parents and in-laws.
We don't like bread sauce, cranberry sauce, christmas pudding, mince pies, brandy butter, bag of mixed nuts and all that malarkey. Why waste the money buying the stuff and the time preparing the stuff when it's not going to get eaten?

MIl gets red cabbage every year, yet no one eats it. She gets annoyed if I don't get it too

I find roasts the easiest meal to cook. Its just timing, and when you've done it once, you can do it a hundred times. Plus there are so many ways to cheat (readymade stuffing etc).

BUT if you have friends or family over and want to impress, it can be stressful!

There's only two of us but I purposely make it faffy because I love cooking and that's my favourite thing to do on the day.
By the time I start DD's usually watching a film so I go into the kitchen with wine and play

Veggies:-

peas, sweetcorn, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, courgettes(with tomato and onion), green beans, carrots, brussel sprouts, parsnips, 3 types of potato(boiled, roast & , mash)
think thats it .... but there might be an occasional other one if someone spots something interesting in the supermarket.
My sister likes to do them in special/ poncy ways too.

TBF, I am mostly a carnivore so I only eat the meat, pots & 4 of the veggies, my sister is a veggie, and most of them are from my Mum's allotment anyway

do you use platters instead of plates