What time do you eat your Christmas dinner?

[ivykaty44]

We aim to eat about 3:30m
Breakfast is around 10:30
Never usually have a third meal, perhaps Chrismas pudding and nibbles in the evening

What time do others like to eat?

We have friends who eat on Christmas Eve evening and then snack on Xmas day. That way they say they can relax and have guests round on Christmas Eve that would otherwise be busy elsewhere

We usually have our Sunday dinner at 1pm but with the turkey needing so much time etc. I am going for 2pm

Breakfast something like bagels or croissants at 7-8am (kids are small so we will be up at 6)
Starter 12.30
Lunch served by 1.30pm followed by Christmas pudding
Kids will want sandwiches by 6, I'll probably wait till about 7.
If you don't have lunch at lunch you don't get a turkey sandwich on the day!
I tend to prep the veg, pigs on blankets, have turkey covered in herbs and butter on Christmas eve so I don't actually need to spend a huge amount of time in the kitchen on the day itself.

We've got MIL coming round. Nice as she is, we don't have anything in common and I find trying to make small talk really tiring so I'm not planning to do any prep in advance. That way, I've got an excuse to spend longer in the kitchen

Prawn cocktail starter at 1pm then main meal from 1.30ish

I tried to Christmas dinner in the middle of the day with starters then realised I was creating to much pressure on my self.

Now we have chocolate from stockings when we wake up!, croissants and pain au chocolate for breakfast, coffee and mince pies when family arrive, our starter (prawn cocktail) for lunch, then Christmas dinner in the evening. Interspersed with Christmas treats at other times.

Basically a full day of eating and drinking!!!

Growing up we had it at around 12/1pm as my grandma came over for dinner.

Now we go to my DH parents house and they do dinner for between 3-4pm.

Personally I preferred having it earlier as it gave us (as kids) a chance to calm down after the chaos of present opening, and meant my mum was done cooking early and could spend the whole afternoon with us. This is what we plan to do once our DC are around 3 and understand a little about Christmas.

We aim for 1pm but always ends up being about 2. Breakfast is usually at about 8 (bacon rolls, cinnamon rolls and fruit). Kids are up by 6 so there's no point hanging around with them hungry.

Turkey cooking time will be a lot shorter this year with everyone buying smaller turkeys as we can’t have many people with us on Christmas Day due to the restrictions.

This year we have a dog (we had him last year but he was too small for walks) so will go for a walk in the afternoon. Usually we spend the afternoon playing games, watching movies and have dessert around 4/5pm.

Not later than 1pm. If we ate later we wouldn’t enjoy it as we’d pick on chocolate cheese crisps.

Plus we always go for a walk on Christmas day (or i do) so want to go when still light.

Then we nibble in the evening.

Probably 2pm.

3pm is far too late for us. We eat a normal breakfast at the usual time and Christmas Dinner is about 1pm.

2pm

Boxing Day!

We're doing a buffet on Christmas day so DD can play. We've done it a couple of times and it's worked out well.

4/5PM.

We usually have breakfast, bacon bagels around 9/10, go to see my Dad around 11ish (where often we bump into some other siblings) then by the time we are back dinner is usually around 4/5ish. We always had Christmas dinner 'early' as a child but we ate dinner normally really late anyway usually after 8. So it would be 6/7PM.

We have breakfast about 10am. Then lunch at approx 2pm. We have a break then dessert. In the evening I will put out some mince pies and Christmas cake.

About 8pm

Normally about 5 but we're having it early this year as my parents are coming over but not keen on staying too long. I think we'll go for about 2 which will be pretty weird for us!

We get up at around 7.30 to open stockings with the kids, after that the teenagers go back to bed. By then it's about 08.30/9.00 we'll put out pan au chocolat/Kellogg's variety packs for the little kids, adults have eggs Royal with Buck's Fizz.

I usually put out crisps and dip or canapés for people to snack on so they don't get too ravenous before dinner which is usually at about 16.00. We'll have a break after dinner and eat Xmas pudding/Yule log/melt in the middle chocolate pudding at about 19.00 followed buy cheese and crackers in the living room in front of the tv

I'm doing food that I can lay out and people can help themselves whenever they like. I prefer everyone to mill around, drink, nibble, repeat. In turn I'm not confined to timings.

We used to always eat in the evening but I hate the feeling of stuffing myself (yes, I know I should eat less ) and then just sitting around all evening so this year I am aiming for 1.30/2pm (main course only) so that we can get a walk in before it gets dark and then come home for Christmas pudding. Cheese and biscuits in the evening for anyone who is still hungry. Breakfast (maybe smoked salmon & bagel for me, DH will have his usual bacon sandwich - teenage DS probably won't surface until mid morning), then Church (if we can) or a short walk.

@lachy

Boxing Day!

We're doing a buffet on Christmas day so DD can play. We've done it a couple of times and it's worked out well.

We've done this for a few years now too and it's ace (though it's 27th this year as my in-laws are visiting their DD until then).

We usually eat the main meal around 1-2pm, never too fixed on a specific time. Smallish dc's so we're up early and have had breakfast by about 8am. I cook and am happy to get things started once presents are open. The afternoon/evening is film/games with picky bits for anyone who wants them.

Around three but on a normal year depends on visitors arriving.

Whenever it’s ready, anywhere from 4 to 6 pm.