Too much food on Christmas day

[SpacePug]

Does anyone skip Christmas dinner on Christmas day? Maybe have it on Christmas Eve instead 🤔

Just discussing how we are never hungry enough for the buffet on the night, and end up serving it all and then only having a couple of nibbles each. There will be 6 adults and 2 kids.

I'm thinking maybe the buffet should be the star of the day, make it a little bit more special and ensure everyone will be hungry enough to enjoy it by not having a huge Christmas dinner the same day. Anyone else do something similar?

As a child, we used to have Christmas dinner at 12pm on the dot, then buffet at around 7pm. It didn't seem like a stretch because there was a long wait between the two, and besides, we had different people coming round in the evening who need to be fed!

No breakfast (aside from some stocking chocolate).

@BeenAsFarAsMercyAndGrand

Why do you have a buffet?

Late breakfast of salmon on toast with fizz
Xmas dinner at around 3pm
Cheese / crackers / leftovers / Xmas cake /mince pies in the evening

No buffet is needed.

Surely the cheese/pickles/leftover etc is the buffet in this scenario?

Starter/salmon/salad around 11am (no breakfast), dinner around 3pm - no tea/buffet etc. Maybe trifle about 8pm if anyone’s up to it. Anyone who wants to nibble in between knows where the fridge is

Surely the cheese/pickles/leftover etc is the buffet in this scenario?

It's not a buffet - it's just a case of grabbing what you fancy from the kitchen if you fancy it. You might not have anything at all if you're full.

A buffet is more formal - the food is plated up and set out on a table, with the expectation that everyone present partakes. Also, a buffet generally involves foods that have been bought/prepared for the buffet, not just general Christmas snacks that are in the house anyway.

We have Christmas Dinner as an evening meal.

Breakfast, light lunch (smoked salmon, trout etc) , big dinner with wines etc.

Leftovers and maybe additional buffet items: Boxing Day.

Why do you need dinner and a significant buffet on the same day?

But do whatever suits you and your family best. No shoulds or oughts.

we have the buffet on christmas eve so its quicker to get everyone to bed before santa comes so mummy can enjoy it. On the day pastries in the morning and roast in the afternoon.

We have bacon sandwiches in the morning, then proper Christmas dinner about 5. Prior to that there might be M&S canapé type things if we are at MIL’s. No-one makes it to cheese which breaks my heart.

I've never known anyone have a buffet after the Christmas dinner.
Boxing day is buffet day!

Big xmas day roast lunch, then desserts and stuff from fridge / cupboards after that. Eg cheese and crackers.

If was down to me alone would do the roast and trimmings another day.

@MinesAMassiveSalad

I've never known anyone have a buffet after the Christmas dinner. Boxing day is buffet day!

I’ve never known anyone do a buffet during the whole Xmas week apart from hotels!

We have a big late breakfast (bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages, cinnamon rolls, fruit), pick at breakfast leftovers or baked brie/ Christmassy nibbles whenever we feel like it after that, and eat Christmas dinner around 7 pm which is when we normally have dinner.

We do a big dinner with dessert on Christmas Eve though, with presents from each other opened afterwards.

Growing up, we did a big Christmas dinner (starter, main, pudding, cheese) on Christmas Eve over the course of about 4 hours to take us up to midnight mass, then Christmas Day was nice breakfasts, canapés and champagne throughout the day with Turkey sandwiches in the evening. Boxing Day we had our 'at home' where my parents entertained 40 of their nearest and dearest, so there was a buffet spread for that.

It spread out the eating over three days and meant no one had to cook on Christmas Day. The more Christmas dinners I prepare myself, the more advantages I can see to it!

I think my definition of a buffet is much less formal than everyone else's

Boxing day buffet was for visiting relatives in my childhood.
I don't do one myself!
A big group of my in-laws do it as they all live within driving distance of one another.

Christmas dinner at lunchtime and then a few sandwiches early evening (usually for the men, the rest of us are still completely stuffed).

@SpacePug

Does anyone skip Christmas dinner on Christmas day? Maybe have it on Christmas Eve instead 🤔

Just discussing how we are never hungry enough for the buffet on the night, and end up serving it all and then only having a couple of nibbles each. There will be 6 adults and 2 kids.

I'm thinking maybe the buffet should be the star of the day, make it a little bit more special and ensure everyone will be hungry enough to enjoy it by not having a huge Christmas dinner the same day. Anyone else do something similar?

We had Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve last year- I think we all missed having it on Christmas day a bit but it did mean there was no slaving away in the kitchen for hours on the day. We had Gammon (which we usually have on Xmas eve), leftover turkey and pigs in blankets on Boxing Day.

Just do the dinner and forget the buffet or just have leftovers.

I always do our xmas dinner xmas eve. Means i can be part of the xmas day festivities too. Xmas day food is still special but very simple.

I always find it depressing when posters refer to them missing out on things because they're cooking Christmas dinner. Can't it be a joint activity? We all have a task in preparing Christmas lunch so although it's co-ordinated by one person, their time commitment is fairly small other than the 30 minutes or so before dishing up.

We don’t do a buffet or evening meal on Christmas Day. We do jus rol pastries for breakfast and Christmas dinner around 3pm followed by chocolates/crisps/mince pies during the afternoon if anyone is a bit peckish. Tend to have a buffet on Boxing Day.

I wouldn't even contemplate an evening meal on Christmas Day. We might have a bit of supper, some crackers and cheese or a sandwich at most. We really are greedy at Christmas, but we know our limits

We do the buffet on Boxing Day. Christmas dinner is about 3pm, if and when people get hungry later it’s cold meat and cheese & biscuits.

My mum expects a buffet on Christmas Day tea time. Bearing in mind I've hosted Christmas for about the last ten years and my mums only contribution to helping is to bring a pork pie, I don't know why I've put up with it. 🤯 We had Christmas with friends due to covid last year. It was great. Had what we wanted. Little light starter and big dinner at about 4pm. Cheese late on. Was really nice, seemed so much less stressful and pleasant. I love my mum, but she makes such a fuss about this one meal of the year, it drives me mad.

@Pootles34

Friends of ours do Christmas dinner on Christmas eve - I think it's a German tradition that a lot of military families have. It makes total sense to me - spreads out the specialness so you have big dinner one day, then presents the next, and the leftover turkey forms part of the buffet on the big day. The main attraction to me is being able to enjoy Christmas day without the big meal taking over everything.

I haven't managed to persuade DP yet.

Yep this is common in Germany where Christmas starts properly on the evening of the 24th. You also get small presents/sweets from St Nicholas on St Nicholas Day (6 December). Children put their freshly cleaned boots out for him to put presents in, like stockings here, so that spreads it out as well.