When is Christmas dinner/lunch?

[Tangoandcreditcards]

Due to obligations to our parents DP and I have not spent Xmas together. This year, as we have 10mo DS, we're doing Xmas at home, just the 3 of us.

It has transpired that we have v different ideas about when the "main event" is served. (I say 1/2 - he says 5/6)

I'm cooking, so it's in my hands (and I'm right, obviously, that's in the spirit of Xmas, yes?), but I'm wondering what other people do?

[MrsGSR]

This thread is making me really hungry.

We have a roast with my dad and sister at 1ish, then another one with my in laws at 5ish! We then don't eat for a week!

If we were just having one meal I'd want it at lunch.

[Slubberdegullion]

TWO Christmas dinners MrsG!
Are you most capacious of gullet?

I think I might actually die if I had to try and eat one twice in one day.

[Cocolate]

5pm. Gives us time for christmas presents, late breakfast, visit relatives and a walk.

It is up to you two to create your own traditions - it took dh and I a few years to compromise on what we perceived as the ideal christmas schedule (!) but while we each brought ideas from our own childhoods we have our very own way of doing things now (10 years in) and I wouldn't change any of it.

[JohnCusacksWife]

Between 2-3 here. 5 or 6 is way too late....we need some food to soak up all the fizz!

[poolomoomon]

When I was a child we had it at around 2. We used to do it at 3-4ish but I've decided this year to do it at about 5 because it is Christmas dinner, not lunch after all .

[ELR]

Always used to be around 2pm but the last few years Ive done a late breakfast and then we've had canapés which used to be a starter around 2pm and dinner around 4pm and pudding around 6-7 pm it's just so much more relaxed and not at all stressful.

[popcornpaws]

usually around 2pm but being in Scotland its usually getting dark by 3pm anyway!

[ELR]

Inthedark and bedpig I'm also gluten free this will be my first Christmas do any of you know what the free from croissant and pan au chocs taste like? I may make some gf breakfast muffins or gf waffles but would be interested in gf pastries.

[WhatWouldTheDoctorDo]

Breakfast around 9-10am, soup/starter about 1pm, selection box goodies for mid afternoon snack, Christmas dinner followed by desert around 5pm, cheeseboard about 8.30pm.

DS can't eat a big meal mid afternoon, so this way we stick to normal(ish) meal times, and the cooking is a fairly leisurely activity (accompanied by wine) interspersed with board games etc. in the afternoon. Can't wait!

[Clutterbugsmum]

I would say when it's cooked.

But I/we normally aim for 2ish for dinner and then pudding around 4/5pm.

[Inthedarkaboutfashion]

bedpig we need dairy free as well as gluten free so the cheese crackers are a no no, but they do look tasty.

ELR I can't say whether the Gluten free pastries are any good as I only saw them in store today. Maybe someone else can help?

[BlueberryWafer]

Around 2/3pm usually - lunch time is too early and tea time is too late for us so somewhere in the middle works perfectly for us!

[Tangoandcreditcards]

Ooh. Lots of good ideas here. I can't decide whether bacon scariness or bacon sardines sound better!

And 10mo DS doesn't get a say, we can't have him thinking it's all about him! (He's routine-phobic so also planning around him is a bit pointless).

Looking like duck for the main event and a compromise of 2-3, we're getting somewhere!

[HolgerDanske]

Later is better, definitely. In years to come, especially if you are going to have more children, you will find it infinitely more relaxing to have most of the day to while away with enjoying your children and their christmas cheer, rather than feeling under pressure from the moment you get up.

We've always had Christmas dinner at four or five and it's lovely.

[HolgerDanske]

Four is always the intended time for dinner, but the odd time here and there it's been a bit later and that's just fine. As we've had breakfast and a light lunch no one is starving so it's not a disaster if it's delayed slightly.

[jamtoast12]

We eat at 3ish at earliest. We tend to have bacon butties or similar around 10am then the odd snack til 3. I couldn't eat a big dinner before 1pm! No way - I'd feel sick plus that's the majority of the day over. If you count breakfast before that, that's a hell of a lot of food in a short space of time. For us opening presents and then the dinner are the two main bits so to have them all over by say 2pm would be disappointing.

We don't do supper Xmas day, just nibbles and baileys.

[HolgerDanske]

Yes I agree, it definitely helps avoid that slightly underwhelming anti-climax of the whole thing being over so quickly - If you have dinner later it keeps the whole thing going a bit longer. Plus there's nothing better than candlelit cosiness in the late afternoon.

[dontevenblink]

Sunday lunch was always a roast when I was growing up, which we'd eat about 1, so christmas roast was always at that time too. My mum would then do a tea consisting mainly of things on sticks (cocktail sausages, cheese and pineapple) and crisps Dh ate his christmas lunch about 2 as a child, so we ended up following the tradition. We always had smoked salmon and cream cheese for breakfast, roast at 2 ish, then snack stuff for tea.

Now we live in New Zealand we have the same for breakfast but have a BBQ for lunch for the meat and I roast a load of veg like peppers, courgettes etc to go with it, so we don't have much cooking to do any more. We then walk down to the beach for a bit, then come back and have snack stuff for tea. One of dh's clients normally gives us a huge cooked ham so we often have that in sandwiches (forever)

[Inthedarkaboutfashion]

I can't decide whether bacon scariness or bacon sardines sound better!

Hee hee, I hadn't even noticed that autocorrect typo. They might taste like bacon sardines and be quite scary if I let DH prepare them

[MeAndMySpoon]

Traditionally, our family dinner would be about 4pm. It was meant to be 2ish but my mother would be having the vapours in the kitchen over the 7 or 8 vegetable side dishes she 'really wanted' to do, and then one year she dropped the steaming pudding on one of the cats and slipped in it. Memories. Such sweet memories.

Now DH and I do the honours, any time we serve up before 3pm seems laughably 'early'. TBH I don't like Christmas dinner. I hate turkey, I hate the juggling round of all the extra dishes for what is basically a big faffing roast, and I hate the fact that it all gets wolfed down very quickly, despite the hours spent in prep and cooking.

I do like the sound of 4pm candles and cosiness (DS2 (4, ASD) will have to be strapped down as he is drawn to candlelight like a fecking moth and has no sense of danger or, indeed, pain) so might moot that idea to DH this year.