Am i brave enough to change the christmas menu?

[mareseatoatsanddoeseatoats]

For the last 10 years my parents have come to us for xmas, and I seem to have got stuck in a rut of serving the same menu (we host from christmas eve to 27th). Last year i suggested doing something different and everyone pulled faces. Would love to just do something totally different.

Oh no. Mess with Christmas Dinner at your peril! DH cooks with a detailed timetable accurate to the minute. Some things we have only once a year. I'd expect divorce if I suggested any changes!!

I'm having a buffet in Christmas Day

my fantastic dh pulls his weight in many ways, but cooking is not one of his skills. My kids are too young to be much of a help. It's my own fault but i think maybe i am too much of a host, and thats how it is now. Everyone seems to really enjoy coming here for christmas, i just feel that i would like a break now too.

I think you should stick to the traditional menu but make it all easier. Especially the Xmas eve and boxing day. A lot of the things could be good quality bought products, rather than home made. Then focus all your energy on the Xmas day meal.

My mother did a flipping casserole one year. Ironically she'd never eat it now as she has gone all faddy stopped eating red meat. Unless it's sausages. Or bacon. Or ham. Or duck. Or anything else she likes that is meant for someone else/an inconvenience

Every year when she stays with me for Christmas she brings food I have expressly told her not to because "this is what we always have at Christmas". Except it isn't and nobody likes it that much.

She also does a whole Christmas dinner and Boxing Day dinner the week before at her house if either she or my sibling (who is married and does not live at home) are going elsewhere for Christmas. Which is bloody rude when other people are going to huge efforts.

Make what you like op and if the guests don't like it they can go elsewhere the following year :)

I agree with laundry. Stick with the traditional menu but make it easier. I don't think it's wise to be messing around with new things on Christmas day. It sounds like you know exactly what you are doing and have got timings etc off pat!

I would cut out the bacon sarnies on christmas morning and just do pastries. How about a good brunch on boxing day? So you could effectively cut out one meal? Or do your guests expect to be fed three times a day?

I think you're doing way too much - of course it's not fun for you. Stick with the turkey but scale back the sides. Keep the Christmas pud and one other bought pud. Buy in buffet food for supper/Boxing Day and take everyone to the pub on the 27th.

Express wide-eyed amazement if anyone suggests that it's remotely different from previous years

OK I have re-read what you've said and seen they leave you in the kitchen all day. Yes, tell them there's going to be a buffet or you will go to theirs for a traditional roast. Their choice. Then buy up M&S for the buffet.

I changed it a few years ago.
Never looked back.
Stress free and enjoyable.

Christmas Eve comprises of a take away. Shocking I know. I'm a procrastinator so another tradition is a bottle of baileys, cheesy Christmas songs and wrapping paper. The people who are there, their stuff is wrapped.. Takes
Hours. We get sloshed and have a laugh. The youngest ones, in bed whislt we build and wrap.

Christmas Day. There's the kitchen, you want a cooked breakfast knock yourself out. I'll have a coffee followed by Buck's Fizz.

At some point some meat will be chucked in the oven. ( another refill) All the veg is
Prepped curtesy of the supermarket. Yorkshire pudds one of my dd's will make them, I purposely screw them up. Potatoes gets chucked in. Meat will be checked. Veg all in the steamer. Time to taste the wine, I mean make some gravy.

Desert there's various stuff. As breakfast knock yourselfs out.

Peckish later there's the kitchen.

Boxing Day.
Left overs

Don't like it, well if it's my company you like, you can always host. Oddly enough though people come back because it's so laid back. Everyone enjoys themselves. There's loads of food and drink. No one feels hard done by. One person isn't stuck in the kitchen.

.

Christmas Eve: do a casserole or slow cooked stew type thing - essentially a one pot meal with good bread followed by (shop bought) mince pies.

Christmas Day: I just don't get the massive Christmas lunch then a dinner thing. We have a late, light breakfast - smoked salmon and scrambled eggs usually (the equivalent of your starter); then at late lunch time we have soup (made the day before); then we have the main Turkey dinner very similar to yours but with fewer sides around 6 (DS usual dinner time, which makes life easier in many different ways); then we have desert/cheese through the evening.

Basically, we have one huge meal but break it up through the day. And then a Boxing Day is a buffet of leftovers for lunch followed by a take away curry for dinner (slattern).

My Christmas cooking is pretty much stress free

I wouldn't be cooking something elaborate on Christmas Eve...I would go for something simple. We do picky things.

Christmas Day as normal then leftovers the other days

Do you get any help or do they expect restaurnaat service ?

christmas eve dinner - Roasted ham, dauphinoise potatoes, green beans, red cabbage... mince pies & mulled wine
Most of this is fine, but just mashed pots rather than dauphinoise and do red cabbage in advance and freeze. I can see why you'd do the ham now though.

christmas day
breakfast - bacon sandwiches, OH or DM should make those while you get a chance to relax with DCs if you’ll be in kitchen all day

lunch - turkey/ham, roast pots & parsnips, stuffing, yorkshires, pigs in blankets, chipolatas, cauliflower cheese, sprouts, carrots, peas, gravy, cranberry sauce. pudding - xmas pud, trifle, yule log, and usually an m & s chocolate thing for the kids.
5 veg seems a lot, as does both pigs in blankets AND chipolatas. And 4 desserts. Unless you are making a lot of those in advance or buying it readymade.

Maybe cut back 1 veg and 1 dessert.

And get people there on Christmas Eve to do peeling of veggies, making breadcrumbs/stuffing, preparing cheese sauce etc – with music on and all chatting together. (And I presume someone else sets the table, and others do the washing up after every meal also?!)
Delegate starters to someone - and it can be completely different or even just smoked salmon on brown bread that the DCs could help plate up out of your way. (I know you said small, but anyone older than 1 could "help" plate up bread, 2 lettuce leaves, 2 cherry tomatoes, sliced salmon and some capers and a lemon wedge, when they have assistance - which grandparents would probably LOVE to help with!!).
Or a pot of soup that was made and frozen to just reheat, or something else simple to put together that others can do for you.

dinner - buffet type foods, cheeses, sausage rolls, xmas cake etc
Just throw at the table – good. And let others set it up, and heat up anything needing heating.

boxing day - breakfast - croissants, Get the DCs to roll those out to bake – great fun even for wee ones

lunch - cold turkey/ham, mashed potato, pickles. Make sure enough potatoes are peeled Christmas eve for this. And let others set it out.

dinner - buffet type foods, quiches, salads...puddings are leftovers from yest.
Again, anyone can set out the buffet

27th - breakfast - smoked salmon/bagels/scrambled eggs,
This is another that someone else can make

lunch - turkey & ham pie, pots and veggies
Again, set your willing helpers to peeling veg, chopping turkey/ham etc. And setting table, washing up, …..
Would a turkey curry make a nice change for you here? Easier (either a good jar, or an easy to make sauce, or there are good curry sauces that you could make in advance and freeze). Or a lasagne from the freezer (keep the leftovers for yourselves).

Sorry, I don't know what happened to trying to make my bits easy to read...hangs head in shame....

We had goose last year. So delicious. I want to do it again this year.

Go for it but do a turkey crown as well?

Oh and we always do a light breakfast, crackers, cold meats, cheese and chutneys for lunch, and a big Christmas dinner at five or six. Best way IMO!

Can I just say, you menu sounds DELICIOUS and if I were one of your relatives I would count myself very luxky to be invited year after year!

If you do what to try and make things easier, I'd suggest either doing a very simple casserole or nice soup with lovely bread/cheese scones for Christmas Eve, plus an easy dessert like choc mousse with fruit, and then just do the roast ham for Christmas Day (no turkey) plus usual trimmings but maybe toned down a bit. Then I'd probably do the bacon butties for brunch that day, and nix the starter of salmon (or just bob some salmon on shop-bought blinis to have with bubbly as canapés before Christmas Day lunch, instead. I also prob wouldn't bother with smoked salmon and scrambled eggs as a breakfast - buy is some lovely loaves and just do buffet-style toast with variety of toppings, and yoghurt and fruit (or similar).

Our easiest Christmas starter is now antipasti - buy in lovely cured meats, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and mozzarella, add a few rocket leaves and voila - all you have to do is plate it up. Alternatively, spiced butternut squash soup is very easy and can be frozen in advance.

Yes I can see why everyone wants to come to yours every year! But honestly, it is so nice to be able to relax at Christmas. I think it's time you went a bit more simple and get some time to actually enjoy it yourself.

My son is a professional chef and volunteered to cook Christmas dinner for the whole family one year. He kept it traditional but it still known as the year Christmas was ruined - his sin was putting rosemary on the roast potatoes. He also trashed my kitchen but that's another story. People really do't like change at Christmas. BTW I thought the dinner was delicious

There's an easy choc pudding in Nigel Slater's Real Food (it's actually attributes to Nigella) - you make the batter, put it in the dish and then cover it with cocoa, brown sugar and hot water, and it magically makes a lovely hoc sauce over the sponge. It feels like you've spent more time on in than you have.

Also I have a wonderful recipe for a raspberry and almond cake that can be tarted up or adapted to other fruit:

8oz butter
8oz self raising
8oz ground almonds
7oz sugar
1 egg
5oz raspberries/other fruit

Cream butter and sugar, add flour, almonds and egg. Splodge approx two-thirds over the base of a loose-bottomed pie/tart dish. Add a layer of the raspberries/thinly-sliced pears or peaches or whatever, and add the rest of the batter over the top in splodges. Bake in medium oven for approx half an hour, could add flaked almonds to top part-way through cooking, or drizzle with white icing afterwards once cooled. Cinnamon is nice added to the batter, if using pears or apples.

Oh I forgot, we always do a ham a couple of days before Christmas so it's ready on the day. We have it cold with the meats and cheeses for lunch. It's so nice and easy and it means no one has to slave away at cooking the whole day long. One little tip. - if you haven't tried it, ales go very nicely with crackers and cheese!

So our menu on Christmas Day is a light breakfast of gravad lax on that German grain bread, with Buck's Fizz.

Lunch is ham, cold meats, cheeses, chutneys. Sometimes a pate or two. And plenty of ale.

Dinner is at dinner time, which means no cooking all bloody morning long - you just put the bird in sometime after lunch and it's ready when it's ready I love our chilled Christmas Day.

We do two or three sides and sometimes two kinds of potato. No starters because I don't see the point. We don't usually do pudding straight after either - we wait until dinner has settled and bring the pudding out later in the evening.

That is way to much and sorry, but guests do not get waited on whilst I miss out on Christmas with DD.

Christmas Eve - we go out for lunch then to panto. Home to ham, breads and cheese. Additional picky bits provided by Messrs M&S

Christmas Day -
Breakfast - waffles, pancakes and fruit. All pre prepared and frozen. I do a big batch the last weekend of November and put them in the freezer and take out as necessary (North Pole Breakfast on 1st December, I want some now!)

Lunch - This is the main event. All veg is prepared on Christmas Eve Morning whilst DH takes DD and MIL out for last minute bits. Generally roasted carrots, sprouts in panchetta (sprouts pre boiled the day before on since April), roast potatoes (again par boiled on Xmas Eve and put in trays with goose fat), M&S Mashed potato, peas and green beans. The meat is usually beef rib but considering something a bit different this year. I cook so I decide.
Desert - Christmas cake or a hazelnut merangue if I have time / feel like making one.

Tea / Supper - picky bits. Left over ham and beef (meat), cheeses, prawns and bits again supplied by Messrs M&S. There are crisps, nuts, fruit, mince pies (baked in November). I put things on the table around 5 and everyone can help themselves when they please.

I supply large amounts of wine and gin / spirits of guests choice. The guest room has a kettle, supplies, snacks etc in when I set it up.

I also have a list of timings for when things get chucked into the oven and spend from around 12 - 1 cooking properly.

I don't do starters, I don't do several deserts, I make an effort to see what guests like to eat but I refuse to sacrifice my time with my 5 year old to pleasing the guests.

Boxing day we travel to see family so its a case of nice breakfast - generally more pancakes or pre bought bake at home pastries and nice tea and coffee - then off before lunch.

REMEMBER THIS IS YOUR CHRISTMAS TOO. Take control now. Tell them that you would still love to host but things will be simpler this year and they will have to bring x, y and z. (insert starter, side dish and / or pudding).

I'd also simplify rather than ditch the cooked Christmas Day meal.

Do they have to arrive on Christmas Eve? I much prefer my guests to arrive late on Christmas morning, tbh. If not then casserole is the way to go - or a side of salmon with simple sides.

Definitely don't be cooking any breakfast on Christmas morning either. There's so much food to come later that noone needs a bacon sandwich, honestly.

Christmas lunch - turkey/ ham , roast pots & parsnips, stuffing, yorkshires , pigs in blankets, chipolatas, cauliflower cheese, sprouts, carrots, peas, gravy, cranberry sauce. pudding - xmas pud, trifle, yule log, and usually an m & s chocolate thing for the kids. Do you need so many desserts? Can someone else bring them?
dinner - buffet type foods, cheeses, sausage rolls, xmas cake etc

boxing day - breakfast - croissants,
lunch - cold turkey/ham, mashed potato, baked potatoes might be less work? pickles.
dinner - buffet type foods, quiches, salads...puddings are leftovers from yest.

27th - breakfast - smoked salmon/bagels/scrambled eggs,
lunch - turkey & ham pie, pots and veggies

On 27th I'd be tempted to do a big brunch and then wave them all off rather than 2 meals

I often work on the basis of 2 big meals over Christmas tbh. It's nice to get out for some fresh air too and I find doing 3 meals takes up too much of what is a short day anyway. So Boxing Day for us would be something brunchy at say 10am (usually smoked salmon and scrambled egg, fruit, bagels) followed by a walk and then one other big meal at about 4 or 5pm. Cheese and biscuits with fruit later if anyone's peckish. I find that really helps. Or maybe suggest everyone goes out for brunch on 27th?

Is anyone has a reliable recipe for a ham, I'd be very grateful? (preferably including something sweet/sticky such as marmalade/ale/treacle, but not coke)

OP your food sounds wonderful but I'd be uncomfortably stuffed, so not enjoy the day.

We decided to ditch cooking turkey on Christmas day a couple of years ago and its been liberating. We cook some sort of roast on Christmas eve. Have the meat cold with veggies and pots Christmas Day. Nice and easy and we can go out to a park and have fun. Parks are really empty Christmas Day its great.

I'd ditch out of the Christmas Eve dinner and do something much simpler and cut back a bit on the Christmas Day trimmings, surely no one would miss it if you didn't have cauliflower cheese for example, that is not a part of a traditional Christmas dinner. You don't need chipolatas and pigs in blankets, just one or the other. Do Christmas pudding and one alternative, not 4 puddings. It's got to be turkey though, anything else just isn't Christmas dinner. Also no need for starters with Christmas dinner, we've never done them.