Now, I know it's early to be thinking about Christmas, but as we've had our summer holiday, washed, dried & put away all our summer stuff, we're trying to be organised for when family bring up Christmas! Usually both sides will mention it at some point between now & mid September.
We've (me & DH) have already decided it's our turn to have his family over Christmas day. Which is over due as although we'd initially alternated, the last 2 or 3 years have been difficult through illness/births/deaths/family in hospital, etc, etc. All being well, things seem more settled at the moment!
So, the plan is that there will be myself, DH, DD (DH's dsd), MIL, FIL, SIL, 2 x DNephews & possibly BIL (depending on work). So there will be either 8 or 9 of us.
Now this last year or 2 we've been decluttering & have disposed of the spare table we'd get out at Christmas, which would allow us to seat 12 of us in the dining room for a sit down meal. I really don't want to have to buy another table (of any form) as to allow us to move up from the table & 6 seats we currently have in use at the moment. We have enough spare seats dotted through the house to accommodate another 3 or 4 in the dining room, but not enough table space to allow 8 or 9 people to eat a meal at the table.
So, my thoughts are that we'd do more of a buffet style lunch. Something like a prawn cocktail starter could still be optional at this stage (it's a staple xmas starter with dh's family!).I'm thinking of a turkey crown & a ham (cooked the day before, chilled in the fridge & served cold on the day), served with pigs in blankets, stuffing, some roast potatoes or hassleback potatoes (new pots with the sliced cuts in them & roasted). But then i'm stuck with what else to do!! Obvously, I don't want to go down the veg route, but will salad, coleslaw, etc, go down with half a Christmas roast dinner? Has anyone done this before & can give me some ideas or can confirm how it went? My DH is talking about still wanting gravy on his dinner & I also wonder how MIL & FIL will take it. SIL, BIL & the boys will happily accept it, I think. And MIL & FIL wouldn't not eat it, but would probably make some comment about it. Not enough for me to be put off by doing a buffet style though! We'd be asking for desert contributions from all the inlaws, which is standard practice so we'll have 2 dessert choices available without having to think about it/buy them. They all live locally & we aren't having to consider breakfast or tea for them, just lunch!