Inspire me with your Xmas food plans and traditions!

[nosyparker12]

Have a small family so just 3 of us and my dps coming for Xmas and we have started to make some traditions like going to church Xmas eve making gingerbread house etc

Anyway feel like our dinner plans are a bit bleh.. steamed veg meat and gravy!

Can you wow me with what you make on big day eg side veg dishes that go down well

Also what about Xmas eve and Boxing Day?

Ta

Christmas Eve, drive to look at lights. Baths and snuggly bed time stories. Youngest lights the Christmas candle.

We wake up at silly o clock for Santa and have a leisurely breakfast, get dressed and go out to mass. Ceremonial gift unwrapping before a late afternoon lunch late followed by lounging/groaning/napping. In the evening we’ll play 25 (card game) stopping to eat the desserts and cheese we weren’t able to manage earlier.

Christmas dinner will be roast turkey with stuffing and gravy, glazed ham, roast parsnips, turnip and carrot mash with a touch of mustard, cauliflower cheese, bacon wrapped asparagus, potato gratin, roast potatoes and sprouts with pancetta.

Trifle, pudding, choc biscuit pudding and cake for after.

I scale quantities up/down depending on numbers but always haves lots of choice.

Can’t wait!

For Christmas tea we have cold meat, salad etc and have it by candlelight!

I like to listen to the carols from Kings College on Christmas Eve. We also go to watch the nativity service at the local church.
We have a chocolate fondue in the evening on Christmas Eve - three types of melted chocolate, plus things to dip: chunks of Stollen, Turkish delight, marzipan, crystallised ginger, glacé cherries, jelly orange slices etc...
On Boxing Day we usually go for a nice long walk. We have a ham, either as lunch or dinner depending on who we're visiting or who we've had visit. We also start our annual jigsaw on Boxing Day - a big one that takes over the dining room table for a few days!

Boxing day is always cold meat, mash potato, pickled onions and bubble and squeak - I look forward to that more than Christmas Dinner!

I’m frm overseas but when we are in the uk (my favourite) then we do:
Christmas Eve carols by candle light at 4pm followed by mezze dinner at our favourite Turkish. Then home and Christmas film with ds before we put the mince pies out for Father Christmas and put ds to bed and read a Christmas story. Then dh and I will have a small cheeseboard a Baileys and wrap presents. It’s normally just the three of us but we have a new baby this year so let’s se how it goes.

Christmas Day starts early with ds opening his stocking in our bed at silly a clock. Then we get up have a smallish breakfast by the fire (coffee and cinnamon buns and ds can have chocklate from his stocking). Then we read a letter from Santa and do a puzzle together. This is our only calm time in the frenzy. We talk about the year, what we are proud of and what we would have done differently in hindsight.

Then ds can’t wait any longer so we open presents, eat more chocolate and go for a walk. Then I start cooking (not turkey fans so we have lamb shanks) with “all the trimmings”. We eat around 2, it takes forever. Then we play,chat, read and maybe watch a film. Then we put ds to bed and I open the prosecco, watch the recorded east Enders and eat after eight mints!