NO Christmas lunch on Christmas Day!!!

[Staringatthetiles]

Has anyone ever done this and if so what was your alternative?

I don’t want to go into the reasons why but would love to hear if anyone opted out of cooking Christmas dinner especially any creative alternatives that will appeal to a family of 5 with 2 preteens.

We usually have a regular simple but sort of special meal, last year we had a mango salad for starters, king prawns and samphire as our main course with crime brûlée for pudding.
I used to do the traditional roast but now there’s just two of us we have what we fancy.

We (me, dh and 3 teens) go for a yomp up a local big hill. We take a bag each and when we get to the top, drop into a non draughty spot for lunch. The eldest makes cheese straws or similar for a starter, then we cook pancetta on a Trangia and have it on baps for main course, then hot chocolate and s'mores for pudding. It's honestly the best Christmas Dinner ever, stress free, virtually no washing up and we're all together.

We're having roast chicken, prawn skewers, egg fried rice, Asian greens and satay sauce.

When I was about 17, my mother and I went on strike for Christmas Day. I'm in the States, so we'd already done a full-out holiday feast a month before. The day before Christmas Eve, we baked a small ham, a small roast beef, and a boneless turkey breast. Tucked them in the fridge. Christmas morning, just before noon, Dad sliced them all, and we set out several different breads (sour dough, rye, pumpernickel, etc), condiments with 3-4 mustards, and sliced cheeses. Chips and dips. Festive seasonal paper plates. Everyone just grazed through the afternoon. It became a cherished tradition.

Oh and we are going to have another sort of Christmas dinner with Granny just after Christmas, so we get to have another probably rather unconventional Christmas meal then

Having family in Boxing Day so will do a big Christmas dinner then. so this year Christmas dinner 4 us is roast beef with mustard mash and some veg

It's only two of us this year and we're having 'Christmas dinner' on Christmas Eve. Not yet sure what to do about Christmas Day, although a cheeseboard will almost certainly feature somewhere.

I'm wondering about something like stuffed peppers or a bit of a Middle Eastern type feast, with pomegranate seeds, lots of fresh herbs etc.

We have a full Christmas dinner, on Christmas Day but at around 5.00pm. DC's asked for it to be later so that we can have 'candles' on the table. We all dress up too, quite atmospheric, with some Christmas carols playing.

Boxing Day is the cold meat, leftover day for us. In fact one year my DS's ( aged about 10 and 12), decided they would 'do' Boxing Day and together they served me with a cold meat buffet. It has become quite a very lovely tradition!

My Dad always used to get an Indian takeaway We thought we were really cool bending the Christmas 'rules'!

We had a help yourself when hungry buffet. We had turkey and pigs in blankets but also smoked salmon and bread. People just ate what they wanted with no stress and if you wanted just random items, no one judged you!

we cook xmas eve then its all done to reheat, i know we're still doing it all but it seems less to do so we just spend the morning having lazy breakfast and opening presents. have done this for years since babies came along

My ex-husband was Russian Orthodox, so he was still in the middle of the Advent fast when it was Christmas for me, and so we couldn't have meat or dairy. We'd usually have fish, sometimes just a big platter of smoked fish and caviar, or smoked eel. Lovely. But would depend on your childrens' tastes I think!

More recently, the Christmas DP was pregnant she didn't want anything too heavy and we had home-made pasta with scallops and smoked salmon and prawns, and creamy lemony sauce, and that was really nice too.

If I were doing it again I'd just buy a massive buffet of all the delicious canape-type things you get in supermarkets round Christmas, and let everyone have input into the choices.

@PRBSurrey1

A couple of years ago we ended up having so many 'Christmas dinners' either side of Christmas Day itself, and were planning to cook a big roast for family a few days later, so on the 25th we had macaroni cheese with pigs in blankets baked in to it. It was incredible - highly recommend.

Ooh I'm trying this one soon. Not this year but definitely going to try it before next xmas and if it's a hit its next years dinner.

I've done the rounds of visiting and eating many many Christmas dinners over 4/5/6 days. It's what made me change it up at home.
Our local takeaway places are usually open Christmas day. Sometimes after a massive dinner we (much later) go get a curry or Chinese. Most are open til midnight or later. Once had fish and chip supper.

Agree with pp, make the effort on the food whatever choice you make, do the table up as nice as you can but importantly if you dont want the traditional meal then just dont have it.
Cook your favourite meal or microwave a meal or make a salad, whatever suits you on the day.

We’ve never done it (yet!) but my DF and his gf usually have full dinner either Xmas eve or Boxing Day with DB’s and DSsis (we live in another country so miss this) and then the pair of them have a curry on xmas day itself xXx

Last year it was just the 4 of us due to covid, we had rack of lamb with dauphinoise and pavlova for pudding. We did do sausage rolls too but that was the only traditional bit.

we had a chinese. was incredible.

I'll be honest I'm a transplanted American (been overseas almost 20 years now) so I tend to get my big roast meal out of the way at Thanksgiving time and embrace the M&S party food thing for Christmas day

I do some kind of meat at Christmas but if I do, it's on Christmas Eve (DH is German and that's a good enough excuse for me! He doesn't actually care at all) I used to stress about perfection and proper meals etc but I realised quickly that literally none of us care, and I'm the only one who even likes turkey or stuffing. So if I buy some bits in, it means I'm not having to do work in the kitchen that no one actually cares about, and we all get the things we like. I do a turkey crown at some point because I enjoy leftovers, and otherwise I just make sure there's enough food to go in the oven to make us happy. We're a small family though and I appreciate others have the influence of extended family to keep happy etc. Good luck OP!

We had an easy Christmas dinner last year. It was all from M&S but mostly pre prepared so really easy to cook and didn’t take very long.

We have a young teen with Pathological Demand Avoidance which is a type of autism. She really struggles with Christmas dinner on Christmas Day but can eat it on Boxing Day. On Christmas Day we started having a really nice afternoon tea that had all the lovely things that we like. We all choose our favourite things to have. It has been such a hit and it’s really taken the pressure off cooking that big meal & trying to see all the family.

Chinese food and a movie is traditional in New York City for people not doing Christmas

We’ve 16 staying at Christmas. No one really likes a roast - we rarely have it so don’t want one at Christmas.
We’re having a big buffet of everyone’s favourites and will be spending the day with three generations all in our pj’s. Can’t wait!

Cook the turkey the day before. Then just have veggies to cook on the day. Done this for the last 30 years

In my city, it’s quite common to have a Chinese takeaway!
I had one 2 years ago actually!

My friend does party food, she has three kids, they don’t entertain or go to family and she likes to enjoy the day without hassle. One of my neighbours gets Indian takeaway from our local who get so many orders, he only does pre booked orders and in slots …..so clearly not everyone loves the full Christmas dinner.

Well, I like cooking Christmas dinner! And we all love eating it, so it’s turkey and all the trimmings at our house. Really though, it’s just a roast, which I do regularly, and only the 4 of us, so it really doesn’t mean I’m stuck in the kitchen all day long. The only different thing is the turkey, which I enjoy cooking &carving.