I know what date it is before you ask... am planning Christmas food anyone want to help?

[StrumpersPlunkett]

So I have managed to convince my Christmas avoiding IL's to join us from Christmas Eve till the 27th.
I really really want to make it special for all of us.
I want great snacks, lovely canape's and festive, delicious food all round.
They are fussy and quality is v important, not sure I will get away with freezing much stuff ahead of time.

TVM

I actually like the pistachio sables and the cheese straws (might have a posher name)! I feel grown up when I offer them with a glass of mulled wine at Christmas instead of a bag of Doritos or tube of Pringles

I've just bought Delia!!! I needed another Christmas cookbook like I needed a hole in the head but it's Delia!!! And it was a bargain

I can highly recommend Nigella Lawsons Christmas cookbook - it has some fabulous recipes and its a joy to flick through.

How long are your guests staying? Picky eaters? Foodies? I'll have a look at my plans from previous years and see if anything might help you.

The pistachio sables are nice, and is it that book which has the parma ham crisps? (I used filo rather than brick pastry and they worked well).

I'm making apple and whisky mincemeat next week, so I can make mince pies and a tart armandine (like a bakewell but with mincemeat instead of jam, from Mary Berry's Christmas book) in October half term and freeze.

Creme fraiche mixed with horseradish cream then served with crab or smoked salmon is a nice canapé.

My biggest advice is to get a book or 2, ask people for any requests or traditions they want met, then plan out each meal/ snack.

Work out quantities of ingredients and have several lists- dry/ long lasting goods you can start to stock up on now, bits to be frozen a little closer to the day and then stuff which will last a week or 2 and things to get last minute.

Keep an eye out for online shopping slots and reserve one ASAP. Either with alcohol to the value of the minimum order, or with the list you've made in the next few weeks.

Above all I would be prepared for your inlaws not to fully appreciate your efforts. If it isn't exactly what they're used to and they are convinced they won't like it as much as their usual Christmas.......

TheWoollybacksWife, thank you for linking that blog post! OMG I want it all! Christmas food is probably my favourite thing about Christmas. Now I can't wait! Christmas tree yumyums, get in my face!

OP, I wasn't a fan of Delia Christmas. Only bought it for £5 last year so wasn't a big loss. I can't recommend Nigella Chrismas enough. So many gorgeous recipes and they always turn out perfect. I also have a little BBC Good Food book called 101 Christmas Recipes. I got it from eBay for a few pounds, and it's a great little book with everything from canapés, to the main, to Christmas baking. I made the Christmas cake from it last year and everyone loved it I hate Christmas cake so can't comment!

I think the best advice I could give is not to stress. It's a fancy roast dinner. Write out what needs to go in the oven and at what time. I do this every Christmas. I make a timeline of when I need to put certain things in the oven or on the hob, so everything is ready at the same time.

Christmas breakfast is always the help yourself variety. Pain au chocolat, croissants, tea, coffee & OJ. I've tried cooking but it just feels like I'm in the kitchen all day. It's so much more relaxing to have a preprepared breakfast.

Oh and I know you've said the ILs are fussy and will expect food to be high quality, but don't stress yourself out making EVERYTHING homemade.

I make my own roast potatoes (Nigella Christmas recipe, which I use almost every Sunday for our roast) but I always buy pigs in blankets. Last year Waitrose did chipolates wrapped in pancetta and rosemary. They were so, so good.

If you're a Yorkshire puddings with Christmas dinner kinda person, like me, they can be made and fully cooked, then frozen. Then on Christmas day you just need to cook them for a few minutes like Aunt Bessie does. Only much, much nicer.

For the veg I buy those ready prepared medleys that go in the microwave. We have a tiny hob and oven so this is a time and space saver.

Doing as much as I can in advance makes all the difference for me, it really helps take the pressure off. Roast potatoes and parsnips can be done weeks in advance and taste absolutely no different on the day, I promise you - even my ridiculously fussy mum couldn't taste any difference.

Thanks for the yorkshires tip for freezing maplepecanpie - I'll be doing that this year!

oooh brill advice thanks all,
will be trying the cook and freeze yorkshires in the next few weeks to get things practised

I will try the frozen Yorkshire Puddings, DS loves them.
I have a double oven though the top oven isn't really efficient, more for just keepng things hot .

I have a halogen oven (glass lid) that gets up to 250c so is brilliant for yorkshires because I can see them .

Might buy myself a single induction hob as an extra cookspace.

I'm now pondering what would be nice for Christmas Eve supper

M&S always disappoint me at xmas.
party foods rubbish.
Far better to plan ahead and do your own bits .

Does MIL have a signature dish that she can bring along?

For Christmas day itself homemade stuffing and fewer veg but done really well can make all the difference.

We always do a big boozy stew sometime between Xmas and Hogmanay nice homemade soup too to refresh the tastebuds after the excesses.

Lots of nibbly spread teas too cold meats, humous, olives, coronation chicken speciality breads or baked potatoes.Huge amount of cheeses too.

A salmon salad tea always goes down well too. Luckily DH fishes and usually we have some in freezer.

I second good quality chocolates perhaps from a specialist chocolate shop, you need fewer and everyone appreciates them ,I usually make some homemade tablet too to serve with coffees,

I make my own pudding and sherry trifle again superior to anything M&S come up with also buy a sticky toffee pudd from a specialist grocer/deli in town and a couple of tubs of special ice cream from an Italian take out.

Freeze mince pies in advance make them with your DCs.

It's all in the planning .