What do you eat on Christmas Day?

[Dinosauratemydaffodils]

Last year I ended up spending around 5 hours of Christmas Day in the kitchen. This year I don't want a repeat. I'm happy hosting as the alternatives are complicated. I don't want to go to my mum's as my dad died last year and I can't imagine Christmas in her house without him. My Mil is happy to cook but my mum won't go to her's for Christmas. Plus Mil cooks a big family meal on Boxing Day for everyone as some of dh's siblings go their inlaws for Christmas so don't really want her to cook twice.

We do a big picnic under the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve before the Christingle service and we usually have bacon sandwiches on Christmas morning.

What can I cook that won't take hours and won't leave huge amounts of leftovers since we'll be away for a couple of days after Christmas but still looks/tastes/smells Christmassy?

Honestly. We see what takeaways are open and order. The best thing we ever did.
When we did cook, everyone helps. Guests would bring prepped veg etc so just needed cooking. And no-one sat on their asses.
When it was just us, whatever could be prepared before was. I really don't understand how people can spend hours making a roast. Once veg is prepped it's just turning on stuff and cooking. Root veg in with the meat to slowly cook. But could be because everyone has a job to do.

It depends on how many you are cooking for and if you have fussy eaters. Would it be too expensive to buy a ready made beef Wellington? Alternatively make something like a venison casserole ahead of time and freeze it. Defrost on Christmas Eve and serve with mashed potatoes and sprouts.

Christmas pudding, Yule Log and mince pies for afters.

I do a full dinner with choice of gammon or turkey but it seriously doesn’t take up too much of the day for me , how can it take 5 hours in a kitchen .

Go to a pub! Loads open, no cooking, no cleaning..

We get a prepared turkey/joint of beef from M&S that can just be shoved in the oven, along with prepared sides from there too like honey roast carrots, sprouts with chestnuts, Yorkshire puddings, red cabbage etc. The only thing we cook from scratch is the roast potatoes.
Dessert involves an M&S Xmas pudding and cheese board, and we make a homemade trifle too. Don’t think we’ve ever spent more than an hour in the kitchen on Christmas.

It's only me and DP and the dog.

We have:
Breakfast: Packet of crisps or a few biscuits with a cup of tea, follwed by bucks fizz

Dinner:
Roast chicken
Two types of homemade stuffing (made the day before over wine)
Frozen roast potatoes
Roasted vegetables (Chopped the day before over wine)
Frozen Yorkshire puddings

Afternoon:
We leave all the roast dinner stuff out on the table all afternoon so we just pick at it throughout the afternoon.
And we also pick at sweets, chocolates, food we've had as presents

Tea:
Usually just cobble together whatever we fancy from what's around

DP does all the cooking. He's up and down a bit putting stuff in/out of the oven and moving things around but he doesn't spend any time in the kitchen really. We make the stuffings and chop the vegetables the night before with several wines.

On Xmas day, we are drinking wine throughout the day from about 8am so we're generally quite fucked.

My trad. Chr. dinner doesn't take anything like 5 hours.
Are you one of those people who do 3 kinds of potatoes, 7 different veg and another roast as well as turkey?

We have turkey, roast pots and parsnips, pigs in blankets and stuffing (both made in advance and frozen), sprouts and carrots and proper gravy.
Dinner never until at least 5 pm.

Late breakfast, usually bagels/smoked salmon/cream cheese.

Plenty of M&S canapés a couple of hours before dinner, no starter.
I don't find it a big deal at all.

how can it take 5 hours in a kitchen

It was the first Christmas since my dad died and I wanted it to be perfect so made everything from scratch. With hindsight that was a mistake. I cooked far too much, ended up so stressed I barely ate anything myself and was angry and resentful that everyone else was playing with the kids whilst I was cooking.

We will have me and dh, dc1 and 2 who will be 18 months and 4 respectively, dm who has had an eating disorder previously and still barely touches her food and my inlaws.

I'm not sure about take out, we live in rural Scotland and don't exactly have many local options for the average friday night let alone Christmas day.

As for fussy eaters, my Mum and MiL won't eat red meat which means Beef Wellington is probably out. Although they both eat very little meat, so a selection of vegetables and some salmon from Christmas Eve might do them.

Why not get a Quorn roast for them? It takes an hour from frozen in the oven and serves 4. Any leftovers are nice in sandwiches with salad and mayonnaise or mustard too, for supper.
I'm vegetarian and this is what I often have for Sunday and Christmas dinners, if I don't have a ready-made nut roast. On Christmas day, I serve homemade roast potatoes and parsnips and a green veg (as we don't like sprouts!) and ready-prepared (from Sainsbury's) red cabbage, carrot and swede mash, stuffing, bread sauce, cranberry sauce and onion gravy with it.
We normally eat dinner between 3 and 4 p.m.

I wanted new ideas so I googled Christmas dinners around the world.

I'm sticking with Turkey 😂

Ham? Can be done in advance and is nice cold on the day with easy veg - frozen roasties in a bag, some roast carrots and parsnips and peas?

Starter can be just nice smoked salmon and prawns with delicious bread and butter and lemon (if you have a starter). No cooking involved.
For the main, turkey plus nice shop bought cranberry sauce and gravy. I don’t bother with ham, just sausages wrapped in bacon which I buy and bung in the oven
Carrots and parsnips roasted in honey, just bung them in with the turkey at some point
Frozen roast potatoes in the oven
A few Brussels sprouts on to boil if anyone eats them
Cheeseboard (no cooking)
Fortnums Xmas pudding (no cooking)

Everything.

I dont go for a starter on Christmas day (unless you count the morning chocolates!) and we usually set the table the night before. Breakfast is just pastries so I'm not already frazzled before I start with a bowl full of dishes from cooked breakfast or similar.

I think decide the things are non negotiable Christmas to you (for me home made stuffing - made the night before, proper gravy - made in advance in dec from roast chicken dinner and heated on the day, roast potatoes fresh) The rest I'm happy to have semi ready made (like a prepped Turkey breast as they are so simple to carve and you can freeze leftovers easily, pre made pigs in blankets, prepped sprouts and red cabbage and aunt bessies carrot mash.

I always make sure we have a cheese board and part cooked rolls so they come out with tea with them leftovers.

I totally get that missing the children all day makes you hot and resentful, so just dont do it! I think guests like to help too so dont be shy to give out some jobs

We vary it from year to year, but every other year I make a pork Wellington which is easy to make, can be prepared the day before and then just bunged in the oven on Christmas Day. Like you, I resent the time in the kitchen which takes me away from my family - our kitchen is too small to have anyone else there when I'm cooking , so I make full use of the pre-prepared food you can order from Tesco at Christmas. I've always found it good and more than sufficient quantity wise.
I'll happily let you know how to make the Wellington if you want.

That must’ve been so hard last year with a little baby and missing your dad.

Lady Christmas I cooked for me, Dh and Dd. I had a 3 week old as well! So kept it simple but traditional.

• breakfast was Christmas Morning muffins from nigella Christmas. Very, very easy but also special and Christmassy.

• no starter

• I did chicken but would do a turkey for more people. Made from scratch roast potatoes, carrots and parsnips, boiled sprouts. But nothing special on the carrots / parsnips just oil and roasted. Then used m&s / Waitrose for stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, bread sauce.

• pudding was Xmas pudding and cream. Which isn’t much prep as it sits in steamer for hours.

If you do it this way it’s not so much work, especially if you share the chopping and peeling for the veg.

All I wanna know is what's a picnic under the Christmas tree??

Do chicken. No faff involved. They can eat the breast. If they don't like/eat red meat doing a ham wouldn't be a solution.

We go out for a curry.

Just get the sides like pigs in blankets, stuffing and veg already prepared then it’s just the meat, yorkies, potatoes to prep. Keep some salmon back from Xmas eve for your mum/mil and just a turkey crown rather than a whole turkey.
I don’t think you need a starter! Desserts are pretty easy again just get something already made and leave out chocolates/nuts/fruit

what's a picnic under the Christmas tree??

When I was little, we always used to go to my Yorkshire/Russian Grandmother's for Christmas. Most of my childhood was spent abroad and we'd usually arrive in Yorkshire at tea time on Christmas Eve. My Grandmother would have the picnic hamper out and lots of little sandwiches, vol au vents, crisps, scotch eggs, salad etc followed by apple dumplings for me and my cousins. With the benefit of adult hindsight, they wanted us to eat separately and go to bed so we wouldn't notice how drunk they all got but as children picnicing by Christmas tree lights it was magical.

When I had dc, I thought I'd try it out to see if it was as good as I remembered and certainly dc1 adores it. I don't make vol au vents though.

Oneoffname I'd love the recipe, thanks.

We usually have a breakfast of scrambled eggs with smoked salmon on German grain bread, with Buck’s Fizz. Pandora on the side for those who want it.

Lunch is a buffet of pork pies, cheese board, patè, chutneys, crackers/bread etc. A few nice ales to drink.

We change it up on the roast depending on what we fancy each year - our favourite is goose (this is also the easiest thing to cook - it’s so fatty you can just put it in, leave it, and it’s basically impossible to overcook, although that isn’t an issue now that we have a really good meat thermometer).

We always prep what we can ahead of time, preferably the day before, we cook or heat up most of the veg and accompaniments on the hob and in the microwave, leaving the oven free for the bird, and once the bird is done and resting, the roast potatoes, one tray of parsnips and carrots, the pigs in blankets and the stuffing. We buy our gravy and the red cabbage pre-made from M&S. Sprouts are easily done (I keep it very simple - either plain or fried with pancetta). We have found after years of trying various fancy abc time consuming stuffings that we all like the dried sage and onion best, so that’s what we have. We just get a finest or fancy version.

I buy a pudding - usually the standard mandarin trifle from M&S, but we have also done more fancy things in the past including an expensive creation by Heston Blumenthal which tasted horrible and definitely wasn’t worth the price tag. My OH is the only one who eats Christmas pudding and/or cake so we get him a little one.

I absolutely won’t slave away in the kitchen at Christmas. That’s not what makes a lovely Christmas for me (but I can completely understand why you felt compelled to try to make it perfect last year). I think it’s really important that everyone gets to chill and relax. My OH and I cook together.

We never, ever stress over having a set time for the meal. We just eat when it’s ready. That cuts down a lot of the pressure.

I'm 47 and have never had anything but the traditional roast turkey and all the trimmings on Christmas Day. But I have to admit I've never been the one to cook it! My DM finds it pretty stressful, though she's a great cook and it's always fabulous. The one time we hosted, dh did it. He loves cooking, was totally chilled out about the whole thing, and doesn't get why everyone makes such a fuss about doing it. He says "It's only a roast dinner!"

I think part of what makes it stressful is when the cook also feels they are the one in charge of sleeping arrangements, entertaining the guests, getting drinks etc. Dh loved shutting himself in the kitchen and cooking while I was in charge of the guests!

*Pandoro, of course!

Dinosaur your Christmas Eve picnic sounds amazing, what a lovely idea!