Favourite Christmas food and tradition

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It looks like DH and I will be hosting Christmas dinner for his PIL this year. It will be for two veggies and two meat eaters and a dairy free todddler. I have just been googling general Christmas food and was wondering what other people like to eat.

I'm not a veggie and I like pigs in blankets. Mince pies and brandy butter. I also eat buckets of lebcucken!

I am not a fan of lebcucken but I love mince pies. They are the only sweet pastry item that I eat. I also love pigs in blankets.

I am not veggie but my DH and his Mum are.

Lebkuchen and stollen, also love the tradition of reading Night Before Christmas to my DS at bedtime on Christmas Eve carrying on the tradition from my mum and dad.

We also always get a box of Roses as it's what DH's mum always used to buy from him, she passed away when he was 19.

I love turning all the lights out and lighting some candles on Christmas Eve, so the only lights in the house are candles and the fairy-lights on the tree. And just enjoying a moment of peace before Christmas Day.

Also suitable for vegetarians.

@kingfishergreen it's lovely having a moment's peace on Christmas Eve before all the (much loved) madness starts - think I will be using your tradition this year

Tin of quality street but the bigger tin not those crap tiny plastic tubs.

Advocaat for snowballs and amaretto to have in hot fresh orange juice.

Xmas day decent dry cured bacon for butties for breakfast.

Xmas meal for me is all about the side dishes. Nigellas gingerbread stuffing has become DHs thing to make a few days before the big day. It's amazing with left over butties. Sprouts cooked with bacon n garlic. And Jamie Oliver's recipe for braised red cabbage.

I'm vegetarian. I'd happily just have Yorkshire puddings, stuffing and cheese sauce for my Christmas dinner!

Mince pies and stollen, the more nuts and less icing sugar the better. Washed down with a large wine glass full of Baileys over ice.

Every evening 1st-23rd December. The feasting can begin after that

Love Christmas threads! Mince pies, Christmas cake, twiglets and pretzels, dried fruit and nuts, Turkish delight and chocolate truffles all
out on the side for picking at. Christmas dinner is turkey and beef roasts with all our favourite sides so roasties, Yorkshires, cauliflower cheese, chipolatas and lots of peas and carrots! Pudding is cheesecake and ice cream.
I really really want Christmas Day food now !

Yup, the only lights on at around 9pm on Christmas eve are the Christmas tree lights.

A deliciously peaceful moment before the next day's madness. Which itself will be cool too.

If said moment can be had on the sofa with my DH and drinks and snacks of our choice plus our choice of Christmas silly telly all the better.

We like to have glazed gammon hot on Christmas Eve so the remainder will be cold on Christmas Day tea and any time on Boxing Day.

Do it sjd! It can feel really quite emotional, I find myself feeling very grateful at that point of Christmas Eve. Of course DD does not approve of moments of quiet contemplation (currently 10mo), so it'll only be a brief moment this year.

Other things I love:

Standing nervously by the kitchen door as DH sets fire to a Christmas pudding at the kitchen table.

Waking-up to the perfectly set Christmas Breakfast table.

The house smelling of oranges and mulling spices for the whole of December.

Cheese, medjool dates, more cheese, elaborate puddings, snazzy stuffings and Bendicks after dinner mints!

I make veggie Devils on horseback for DH (prunes wrapped in veggie bacon/ham) plus veggie stuffing by mashing up veggie sausages to use instead of sausage meat ( I think there is definitely a market for vegetarian sausage meat as the stuffing is so much nicer with this as a base).

We have lots of picky foods around Christmas time. Love it.

Christmas eve is a buffet at the in-laws.

Christmas day at home is:
Brekkie - chocolate and whatever the kids find in their stockings.

Dinner - turkey crown, pigs in blankets, cauliflower cheese, stuffing balls (only dh eats stuffing), yorkie puds, carrots, sprouts, swede and roasted parsnips. HAVE to have bucks fizz with dinner as that's what always happened when I lived at home. And always have to have after eights after dinner.

Tea/supper (over my mum's) - turkey/pork rolls usually followed by a choice of profiteroles or trifle. Party games, pop/booze.

NYE - party, buffet, vodka jelly shots, booze and games at home with whoever wants to come.

Christmas Eve is always fish or pasta. Carols at Kings on the radio and candles everywhere.

Christmas Day is Buck's Fizz, huge roast turkey or goose and my granny's utterly glorious sausage meat stuffing recipe which successive generations have fought over for the last fifty years

Boxing Day is leftovers and chocolates.

NYE is always steak pie (basically the law in Scotland for Hogmanay) then off out to friends' annual house party for amazing picky bits (they are both chefs) and enough champagne to sink the Bismarck

Anyone old enough to wield a knife safely is given a vegetable type, a bowl, and a peeler/knife/shopping board. We load up trays/coffee tables and everyone sits in front of one of the naff Christmas Eve comedy type things to get the veg done. Nobody notices they are doing it and then they go into bowls of iced water in the fridge overnight.

One year we had all my cousins staying so my mum made us relocate to the kitchen and it didn't feel right at all!

Loving the idea of quiet time on Christmas Eve with candles and lights on the tree. I might try and do it every evening during Advent (I think December is a bit ambitious for us ).

For us we have a Chinese Takeaway on Christmas Eve (a tradition I brought as that was what we always had when I was growing up as DMum flat out refused to cook on Christmas Eve. DH loves this tradition). My DB & DSiL have lasagna on Christmas Eve. I also cook a big ham on Christmas Eve which we go through over the next few days.

On Christmas Day we're pretty flexible, nice breakfast but not set it stone so it changes. Lunch/Dinner is turkey, chipolatas (from out local butcher - awesome), roast potatoes, red cabbage, stuffing, sprouts etc. We usually have Prawn Cocktail and Smoked Salmon to start &/or soup. Normally a choice of puddings so Christmas Pud or a M&S desert. I always do a cheeseboard for DMum

Last year I got DH (veggie) a Tofurkey which he loved and has asked for this year. You can get nice veggie stuffing in M&S.

We have to have marzipan fruits, iced mince pies, Christmas Cake, box of chocolates on the go and a trifle in the fridge.

Thanks. These all sound great. Lucky PIL live locally so won't be staying over. DH's family don't have any traditions as they are not really into Christmas . I think for dinner I will go for a quality over quantity of types of food.

While the children are up we always go for a walk through a woodland area near us and take the kids to the good playpark - let them burn off some of the excitement and help ensure they actually go to sleep so that we can do our adult tradition of watching Die Hard, drinking beer and eating mince pies/Celebrations before Santa visits.

I highly recommend getting outdoors and watching Die Hard.

I highly recommend getting outdoors and watching Die Hard.

Not quite in the spirit of Christ's birth, but hey-ho.

We always watch Die Hard too! Plus Elf for DS.

Die Hard is THE essential Christmas film.

Christmas Eve is always out somewhere then home for hot chocolate and pigs in blankets and chips

Christmas Eve box is then opened and shower and fresh pjs with a Xmas movie followed by some board games

Christmas Day is at ils

Boxing Day is at ours for buffet with friends and family

Die Hard is an awesome Christmas tradition. Ignore the trolls @GherkinSnatch.

They can say what they like, it's not Christmas until I've seen Hans Gruber fall from the Nakatomi Plaza (so the saying goes )