Hot or cold meal?

[Aworryingtrend]

We have family coming to us on the 28th December, there wil be 6 adults plus our 10 week old baby. DH is desperate for me to do a roast ham and says he will make a quiche and salads etc. Which sounds lovely, but I wonder if after travelling up to see us (we live a few hours from them) a hot meal is more appropriate? I was thinking a lamb tagine or a lasagne both of which DH has poo-pooed as 'not Christmassy enough'.

WWYD? I'm just not sure a ham and quiche and salad would cut it but I don't want to do loads and loads of fiddly bits as am busy with 10 week old DS.

We had 14 for dinner yesterday. Roasted a piece of beef and a leg of lamb the night before (season, chuck in and ignore for 3 hours). Then did a pot of rice, some new potatoes and gravy. Sliced the meat and served cold along with salad and coleslaw, dips and nibbles etc.

Got my guests to bring desserts.

All went down very well

Dhs suggestion sounds fine to me and much less fuss, plus it won't matter if your guest arrive late. We are catering for 20 on the same day and are doing something similar, thought that people wouldn't want a heavy meal and can control their own portions better with cold meats and salads.

I would do some jacket potatoes with it as well, then people can have a balance of hot or cold as they want, and its barely any effort

If you want something dead easy but impressive, how about a slow cooked lamb shoulder - forget about it in the oven for 5 hours or until you're ready (i've done them overnight before) then shred and pile on a plate

I did one yesterday, with parsley, red onion and pomegranate sprinkled on top, then served with pitta bread and Greek yoghurt (have also served with couscous) - it looked really festive with minimal effort...