I love Christmas though I find Christmas Day itself a bit of an anticlimax. I feel under pressure to make the perfect Christmas lunch/dinner and to keep it magical similar to how my mum did for us when I was growing up.
Last year I cooked for 9 and hated it, I don't know how people gather the masses and don't bat an eyelid at cooking! I missed out on spending time with my family because I was in and out of the kitchen.
This year it's just dh and I so we're having our Christmas turkey on Christmas Eve at our favourite restaurant. Christmas Day we're planning on putting on our wellies and having a nice long walk somewhere, a flask of mulled wine and no pressure to get back for the main event. We'll have fresh bread, homemade soup, cheese and cold meat platters and other bits and bobs that we love.
Completely different from anything we've ever done but I'm actually looking forward to it! I do need a Christmas pudding alternative as neither like it if anyone has any suggestions?
Anyone else doing something 'non traditional' this year?
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Anyone not cooking this Christmas, what are you doing instead?
LazySusan11 · 07/08/2016 11:02
We live abroad, no kids, so we usually do what you're doing this year 
But - we're going home for Christmas - so my lovely Mum will cook us (and some other rellies) Christmas lunch for the first time in 10yrs
can't bloody wait
It's a sacrifice you'll just have to make What, have some wine to help you.
OP are you me? I'm exactly the same about Christmas - always feel pressure to make it as perfect as possible like my childhood which generally means me slaving away in a kitchen fretting about the potatoes not being fluffy or the perfect amount of "crispy".
Last year we booked to go to Christmas brunch at the Ritz which was, what I considered prior to going, grossly overpriced at $400 (payable in advance). Until Christmas day when DH had come down with pneumonia and couldn't even get out of bed.
Despite this, I had probably one of the most relaxing Christmas Days since before my kids were born. I woke up and watched them open their stockings, skyped with our families back home, got the little one down for a short nap, got ready, collected by our friends who were joining us on the day, got to our table at the Ritz and basically ate and drank endless glasses of Moet. And when I told them that my DH wouldn't be joining us because he was so sick, they gave me a free bottle of Moet to take home for when he was well enough to enjoy it.
Kids ate what they wanted, did arts and crafts, sat on Santa's knee, stuck their heads in a chocolate fountain and played with all their friends that we bumped into (and all the new toys), whilst Christmas movies played on the big screen on the wall, Bing Crosby crooned in the backgroun - it was bloody fantastic and the least amount of stress I've ever had.
So we're doing it again this year so DH can enjoy it! When kids are little it is a no brainer for me to not have to fuss about cooking or cleaning up. And after brunch it's straight into the pool for some sunshine and more champagne.
Next year when we're in the new house, I will do a big family dinner and hpoefully my parents will be joining us from the UK. Would it be mean to make my mum cook?
Stroke I think we must be twins, the potato stress is awful. It's just a bloody potato but for some reason at Christmas it has to be cooked to perfection, crispy on the outside fluffy on the inside blah blah..the Ritz sounds amazing!
I hope this Christmas Day is cold and crisp so it fits with the vision in my head of dh and I walking through the countryside enjoying the cool air with a hint of sunshine peeking through. Nothing to worry about and lots of mulled wine 
Well DD2 is due 28th November, so I should have an approx. 4 week old come Christmas day. I love Christmas but realistically think it's going to be low-key this year as invariably am going to be tired from sleepless nights and having a 2-year old to run around after all day. I'm hoping we will get fed by my parents Christmas day and DH's parents Boxing day (or vice versa) so I don't have to cook.
Ooh toomanywheeliebins I didn't know Cook do a Christmas dinner! I will make a note of that....
We will just be at home this year with DD having a quiet Christmas, and I like Christmas dinner but hate the fuss of cooking and the expectation that it must be great. We will also be going to church too as we're at home, so I want to have something that will be quick to prepare (too scared to leave anything in oven while we're out!) Thankfully, DD is also young enough not to be fazed if there isn't a traditional turkey, so I was wondering about having chicken instead, or even something else a bit unusual. Maybe not even just a different meat, but a different type of dinner altogether. And maybe having a substitute Christmas dinner at a restaurant just beforehand or something. On the day itself, I quite fancy something like fish or steak - I really hate that overindulged Christmas evening feeling where you feel stuffed but yet still craving more buffet items....
Plus none of us is that fussed on Christmas pud, though I might be persuaded to get a couple of mini ones.
Hmm, now I think of it, gravadlax, soda bread and a half-bottle of champagne, followed by a fillet steak, chips and salad with a glass of decent red, and maybe a home-made trifle for pudding, sounds fab, yum! 
We can always go back to turkey the following year....
I was also thinking of making either Nigella's Xmas muffins or some cinnamon buns in the morning for breakfast; and having some ham and cheeses and so on in for the evening. And maybe some hearty lentil and bacon soup on Christmas eve before or after the Christingle service.
It's so freeing to think that this year we can do what we want as we won't be with either set of parents! I mean much as I love the big trad Christmas dinner (mum and dad go the whole hog with a giant Kelly Bronze, 12+ at table and dinner preparation starting at 6am like a military campaign), it would be nice to have a year off to be a bit more low-key.
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Ha!
I'm going to do TWO Christmas Dinners I think.
I love the cooking and buying, all the lists, the prep, putting the times up on my blackboard and ticking everything off.
The setting of the table and a new colour scheme each year.
But I think my DParents aren't up to travelling this year so I'm planning our family Christmas at home then I'll pootle off to them after Boxing Day and do another Christmas Dinner (and a Sainsburys delivery)
Goes off to make lists.................... 
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