First time hosting Christmas- no dining room

[Acunningruse]

This will be our first year hosting Christmas, as my mum is now struggling to do it all plus we want to be at home with DCs (6 and 2) and their new toys.

Our house is a reasonable size but we have a long, thin kitchen diner, rather than separate dining room. My mum is already helpfully wondering aloud how we will manage, what a squeeze it will be, etc 🙄

How do you make Christmas lunch feel special if you are sat in the kitchen? Also half in the living room depending on how many come! I really want to create a relaxed and joyful atmosphere in stark contrast to my mums passive aggressive huffing yet refusing to let anyone help every year, but how can I do this when realistically we'll be surrounded by pots and pans?

Any tips from seasoned kitchen hosters welcomed!

I would eat in the kitchen so you still have the living room for presents etc.

Prep all veg etc in advance
Write a list of timings for cooking so you don't have to keep working it all out over and over
Put a plastic crate outside the back door to receive unwieldy washing up as you go. Small things can be washed up or put in the dishwasher as you cook, but big things like roasting trays, colenders etc can go outside until later.
Don't put the dishwasher on while you're eating - it's more noisy than you think!
After eating, take everyone to the lounge and leave two people to switch on the loaded dishwasher and clear the table into stacks ready for the next dishwasher load.

Hostess trolley will be really helpful if you can get one :)

Have fun!

How big is your fridge OP? Funny question but I have found one of the most annoying problems is Christmas Fridge, fitting everything in the fridge, especially if you want to preprep trays of roastie and channel your inner Mary/Delia My tip is to empty all those annoying jars out of your fridge a few days before. Chuck the out of date stuff and put the rest in a box somewhere cool and out of the way.

If you can, worktop space allowing, lay the table on Christmas eve. This will make the kitchen look instantly more festive. Get kids to help if old enough, perhaps get them to make place names the week before.

Nominate someone to look after guests with drinks and nibbles so you don't have to.

Ask a particular person to help you with food, someone you get on with (obvs)

If you drink have a small cooks' tipple

Maybe let your mum help with the clearing up. My MIL is happiest with a dishcloth or a tea towel in her hand. If we've got it all sorted (older kids now) she sort of does a sad lament about wishing she could do something to help.

Leave time in your plan to get washed and dressed otherwise you might be in PJs as your guests start to arrive in their best bib and tucker.

Most importantly, enjoy. The best hosts are those genuinely happy to have guests. It's a big shift for your mum but hopefully she'll find she quite likes it.

Eating in the kitchen is fine, we always did this when we were kids, we lived in a small cottage and didn’t have a dining room, just a kitchen with a table, we used to squeeze around it Christmas Day.