Christmas at home - how do avoid spending the day in the kitchen?

[DTisMYdoctor]

We're planning on spending Christmas Day at home for the first time this year - just me, DH and DS - and we want to have Christmas dinner with all the trimmings, but without spending the whole day in the kitchen!

Any tips? What to make in advance, what to cheat on by ordering from M&S (have some vouchers stashed away etc). We've always been out on Christmas Day, so not sure where to start (hence the planning ahead).

I may be ignorant here but what do you mean by brining the turkey? Do you just soak it in salty water??

We vary starters but they are always easy & quick to do eg smoked salmon or a salmon terrine, we have done garlic king prawns before or a prawn cocktail. You could buy these in if uou didnt want to make them from scratch.

We always cook our turkey christmas eve evening & have bacon sandwiches once cooked from the bacon that covered the turkey - yummy !

Ireallymustbemad yeah it is. You can find brine recipes on line. I put my turkey in a roasting bag with the brine,in a cooler over night the night before I want to cook it. I then stuff it an cook it. NEVER dry,always moist and cooks SO fast ( works for big chickens too btw )