What time do you eat on Christmas day?

[flakemum]

We have always had meal at 2pm but that's not really a good time as we trying to fit everything in before. Dcs end up hungry because thats late for lunch. I'm thinking of a change this year to 6pm dinner. What is your routine?

We have always eaten at 2 and it fits in fine for us but we go to family on Boxing day who always do an early dinner at about 4.30

When it's ready. We have a big breakfast to compensate.

About 2 or 3.

3/4 ish

have a cooked breakfast - ish! I have a sausage sarnie and bucks fizz, and everyone else varies between that and a full on (DH) we tend to have that after a fair amount of the presents, so it keeps us going, and I do a tray of nibbles too (sausage rolls etc) if people are getting peckish before

1 pm. All veg, stuffing, etc prepared the night before. Turkey prepped night before too. Just have to set everything into/on top of oven.

1pm - same time as we would eat a sunday lunch.

Fits in fine with us as we're up at stupid o'clock and don't go anywhere on the day - parents/in laws come to us.

In the evening, as if it was a dinner. (Tea, supper, whatever your local word for evening meal is....)

When we get back from the pub and finish cooking it - maybe 3 or 4 ish?

Same as crockydoodle as well - all prepared the night before

We eat around 6, because we like to go out for a walk with the dogs during the day.

At mum and dads: aim for 1.30ish, actually served nearer 3 and lasts for a good couple of hours, several bottles of wine, 3 courses, crackers, rude jokes going over the children's (and my mother's) heads, whisky to finish etc...
At PILs: Definitely 1pm finished by 1.45, no-one really drinks, conversation is polite, just a typical family lunch. Buffet tea at 6pm.
At ours: Graze all day, no cooking much on the day.

They're all nice really. Each to their own and all that.

Around 6. There is no way I could eat a large dinner before evening.

We have a big breakfast/brunch and I always have pate or salmon or leftovers from the night before if anyone feels like lunch. Sometimes there are bits left over from breakfast too, like bacon or cinnamon rolls.

Routine is: get up, presents, breakfast and bucks fizz, walk (tinsel on the dog's collars is a must santa hats optional), get back and CHILL each in his/her own way, playing with presents, reading new books, glugging mulled wine etc. Luckily, DH likes to chill by going into the kitchen and cooking things. Don't tend to watch any telly. Dinner 6 ish, then little kids to bed, board game with big kids, chill, bed.

After it gets dark, all the twinkly lights and candles look so much nicer.
It's only served earler if my parents are here (they are diabetic so can't go too late without food)
We only have one course (no starter ,just main course, then pud later)

But one of our family traditions is dinner has to be eaten before Dr Who

We now tend to eat around 5pm since we had DS (before that it was probably closer to 7pm).

We have a big cooked breakfast, a few nibbles during the day and then Christmas dinner (starter and main course) around 5pm. This means that DS can join us before he starts getting tired and grumpy.

DS goes to bed around 7pm and then the grown ups have pudding and more drinks

We will be eating at 1 this year as we are going out for Dinner. We have gone our for dinner the past 2 years. We open stockings and have a lazy morning. Then go out. We open main presents when we get back.

We've always done it about 2 ish. I tend to save my appetite between breakfast and the main meal and the kids nibble their selection boxes and have plenty of toys to occupy them so don't get too ravenous.

We're always at my mum and dad's for lunch, about 1pm. We're all really early risers, my parents are home the day before as they work early morning shifts, so prepare everything the day before to be put in the oven in the morning and we live 3 doors apart so it's a quick walk over.

DH takes the 2 DS over to the PILs about 10am for a couple of hours (I stay home due to an unfortunate long running animosity with MIL) so I stay home and help drink some Bucks Fizz with my mum and visitors. About 5pm we walk to my GPs and have a turkey sandwiches and christmas cake - this has been going on since before I was born and it just ends the day nicely.

Christmas dinner in the evening - about 6 ish.

um, it can be anywhere from 3-9pm the main problem is that its just me cooking, usually for about 7-10 people. i dont mind doing it on my own as everyone else clears up afterwards (we make a lot of mess) but i do dawdle about it as like to watch the kids with their new toys and suchlike

My inlaws have their xmas dinner at lunchtime, my parents have theirs in the evening. For many years DH and I ate two Christmas dinners, kept everyone happy but was a bit hard on the digestion!