What do you eat on Christmas Eve?

[TinkyDinks]

I really want to have a meal which becomes our traditional Christmas Eve dinner. I don't really want anything too "meat and veggie" cause of the big Christmas Dinner. Nothing too spicy either as 3 young children who aren't keen.

We normally go to church for an hour ish at about 4pm and stop at pub on way home, just for one.

Really want a "go to" for Christmas Eve meal. What do you have?

Fish pie is the classic one.

We have a picnic tea in front of the Christmas tree.

The last few years we've had gammon with delicious crusty bread, it seems to be a new tradition for us

My Christmas ham/gammon with a massive macaroni cheese, beans and jacket potatoes. My DC look forward to it more than Christmas dinner so I daren't change it now! Quite often do pineapple upside down cake for afters to really dial up the retro!

Either a buffet style to pick at but most years we book a takeaway to save on cooking so that we can just relax with a movie.

Parking arse here for ideas, we don't have anything particular either. Would need to be something not too heavy or daffy to cook or have too much washing up.

Actually fish pie (made ahead) fits all those criteria...

Buffet with bought stuff or takeaway.

Lasagne, garlic bread and loads of red wine. Yum

We have take away pizza but I never really enjoy it. So I am thinking nice family walk followed by hot chocolates earlier in day and preparered lasagne with crusty bread! Watch Elf and then go to service at 11pm as mine are teens now.

We normally cook our Xmas ham on Xmas eve and have that with bread and pickles and cheese. We get a huge ham and we have it on Xmas day too (cold) alongside the turkey.

We've done lasagne and garlic bread a couple of years (Italian meats and olives etc to start).

Also cooked ham and macaroni cheese.

One year I did all those buffet nibble bits that I never normally buy. That was nice too.

It sure what we'll do this year. We'll have a three week old so it needs to be easy...

Cheese & biscuit evening with olives, salamis etc & port. We all love different types of nice cheeses & biscuits but are always too full to want them after a big meal when they are traditionally served. Hence we have made it a meal on its own. Any leftovers get put towards the New Years Eve buffet.

Fish and chips eaten in the chippy.

Yummy and no washing up!

we usually have hot ham rolls....Christmas Eve is the day I cook the ham and everyone loves the smell and cannot wait to get into it

if people are hungry I do chips or a nice homemade potato salad, which will keep for Boxing Day cold cuts/buffet

but usually there's nibbley things. mince pies, cheese and biscuits, mulled wine and all the things on the go so no one is starving hungry and all are waiting to be good and hungry for the main event!

We have a Christmas Eve BBQ (mainly sausages for hot dogs so something simple) lol.. dh does the cooking outside in the cold while we sit by the fire inside , this sounds bad but he absolutely loves bbqing and says it's his favourite one of the year!

We usually have shepherd's pie and peas - and champagne

A Chinese takeaway

We usually have a sort of rolling feast of party food.

This year I'd like to do a pie or casserole that I could get ready the weekend before and freeze. Fish pie would be good. Or shepherd's pie maybe.

We do the 7 fishes so have a big family dinner before midnight mass. We normally have
Seafood salad
Spaghetti with clams
Baccalà salad
Fried Baccalà
Fried calamari
Jumbo prawns
Fried eel

Christmas in southern italy is celebrated ore on Christmas Eve than Christmas day.

Sausage and mash with onion gravy

We always have a Chinese takeaway after christingle

Marking my place also!
I never want to touch all the lovely food we have for Christmas day and Boxing day and the following days of visitors (if we are lucky!). We usually struggle to find anything to eat on Christmas Eve so usually have a take-away out of desperation.
I love the idea of cooking the Christmas gammon on Christmas eve (I don't normally cook the gammon until Christmas day night) and having that with crusty bread (we love part-bake and always have that in) and pickles and salad. It makes sense as it will be cold for Boxing day salads and cold meats.
Looking out for any other ideas that come on this thread.

We always have a buffet with nice bits from M&S. Champagne to drink with Carols from Kings is the start of Christmas for me.

Used to be a buffet of M&S goodies, but now it's KFC which the DC prefer more.

Last year was mine and DH's first proper Christmas together in our house. He pulled out his traditional Chinese cook book and made the best Chinese I'd ever had. I can't wait for Christmas eve this year because a Chinese is firmly on the menu!

It'll just be the two of us on christmas eve this year, I think, because family aren't arriving until Christmas day because I'll be heavily pregnant

Last year was mine and DH's first proper Christmas together in our house. He pulled out his traditional Chinese cook book and made the best Chinese I'd ever had. I can't wait for Christmas eve this year because a Chinese is firmly on the menu!

It'll just be the two of us on christmas eve this year, I think, because family aren't arriving until Christmas day because I'll be heavily pregnant