Has anyone regretted doing Christmas lunch on Christmas Eve?

[liveeverysecond]

DDs are with their Dad from Christmas Day lunch this year and we have guests Boxing Day so thinking about doing our Christmas lunch on Christmas Eve then a buffet Boxing Day... I'm worried it won't feel the same and will regret it.

Home Christmas afternoon with DP and we're looking forward to a long dog walk then lazy afternoon so will get in easy food!

My friend always does this because her mum is German so it was the norm when she was a child.

This thread made me think it was a good idea but Dd has forbidden me to change anything about Christmas. Christmas Eve is my favourite day and my youngest will be nearly 8 at Christmas and maybe old enough for the midnight mass (actually usually around 1030). I like to bake cookies on Christmas Eve and I'd very much like to make more of the day with a special dinner. I find making Christmas dinner exhausting and it takes up so much time. I have to share my Christmas Day time with the dc with my exH and dinner feels rushed and as though it takes most of the time I have with the dc. This year I want to do something different.

When DH and I got married, we had different traditions and expectations for Christmas so we blended them.

I cook a traditional roast turkey and all the trimmings on Christmas Eve. We exchange one present. It is a more traditional European Christmas. The Santa visits overnight and Christmas Day is the Australian version - more presents, seafood buffet done on the bbq, laid back and less stress (for me, anyway).

I like that we turn both days into a celebration and the seafood buffet/bbq seems very indulgent to me. Plus I don’t have to cook, so win-win!

I feel the same.

I love having a bucks fizz, watching the kids open their presents & not being distracted by loads of food prep.

It feels like a 2 days of Christmas.

I do Xmas dinner for my dd and 2 x dgc the weekend before Xmas. We have crackers and open gifts. I book them in to see Santa and we go ice skating too. Then go for a walk looking out for Xmas lights as a lot near to me. Always a lovely day I look forward to and they go to sil's Mum on Xmas afternoon the last 2 years as her DH died from Covid so she lives alone now. I go to DS and his partner for Xmas dinner on Xmas day. I have an open house on 28th and DD and dgc and DS and partner all come, along with my sister her dh, nephew and niece and a few friends. I do a huge buffet and we all go bowling. I think every day is what you make it. You can make it work.

We do Christmas dinner at 6pm on Christmas Eve. Much less stress to get it ready for that time rather than stuffing turkeys at 7am, the shops are still open if you've forgotten anything vital, and you have a more relaxed Christmas Day. We have turkey and bacon sandwiches for lunch on the 25th with salad etc and a turkey, gravy and greens fry up with mash for supper.

Yes we have often done it due to shifts. We love it. It's much more relaxed on Christmas day

On Christmas day we now have a big breakfast, the kids can relax all day then family come at night and we have a cheese board, bits and bobs to eat and we ordered pizza last year. It was great!

Planning the same for this year too.

We do it all the time, it becomes the norm when families grow up and grandkids come along, then there's 2 sets of grandparents! We usually 'do christmas' after Christmas, say on the 26/27/28th if its not our year for Christmas day and its so much more chilled for some reason. Christmas day (25th) becomes a lovely day of relaxation, and we make great food albeit not Christmas Dinner. And then we still have family Christmas to look forward to! The actual date doesn't matter for us, it's more about the quality time together!

I don't get it. So Christmas Day is more relaxed but then that's Boxing Day so you've just changed the days so if doesn't mean anything does it? Whichever day you choose to cook 'the roast' you'll have leftovers the next day.

I know I'm not explain myself well but I just don't understand 🤣

You don't have all the extra Christmas day things on Christmas eve though so it is more relaxed.

What extra Christmas Day things? Opening presents and playing games? We have plenty of time for that!

Dinner all prepped on Christmas Eve so even when my children were younger I never missed out on playing with them as it's a case of just shoving everything on 🤷🏼‍♀️

A serious question - how do you prep the day before?

I assume that means stuff like peeling potatoes and carrots etc. What do you do to keep them fresh?

Or do you cook and reheat? Doesn’t that affect the taste and consistency of the food?

In my house, even laying the table isn’t done in advance because we use the table for other meals.

What else can you prep in advance?

My daughters love Christmas Eve prep! Carrots and parsnips are chopped covered in oil and placed in a bag with oil. Potatoes which are going to be mashed are in the saucepan covered with water, the ones which will be roasted are parboiled.

Pigs in blanket are in a tray ready to be roasted. Stuffing made and in trays too. Cranberry sauce in the fridge. Cauliflower cheese has been made before and is in the freezer ready to be cooked.

Is that everything 🤔. Oh we have carrots boiled too and they are in the pan with water on top.

All I do is then shove everything in at the correct times. We have an old fashioned hostess trolley which I shove things in too when they are done. The turkey comes out and rests for 2 hours then veg all goes in.

The hostess trolley definitely helps although whether it'll cost too much to run this year is yet to be seen.

That was for @DifficultBloodyWoman

We do our big meal on Christmas Eve as DH is Scandinavian (and I've never been that fussed about Christmas Day anyway).

On the 25th we have cheese, biscuits, charcuteries meats, pickles, left over pigs in blankets and loads of wine. Very relaxed, easy to prep and clean up after.

We don't actually have a full Turkey dinner at all, but I buy sliced Turkey, cranberry sauce and nice bread so I still get a 'leftovers' sandwich

Absolutely not! It's what we do every year. As soon as I had kids and realised I was either cooking on Christmas Day and missing presents being opened or driving around like nutters to see family, I put my foot down. Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, and then Christmas Day we now have PJ day, easy food (afternoon tea, buffet, leftovers). Perfect.

Ds has now expressed unhappiness at no Christmas dinner on Christmas Day.

Thank you.

I think you have a much larger fridge than I do! 😂

I was envisaging bowls or trays of food after being prepped but plastic bags would be a space saver.

We’d done the Christmas roast on Christmas Eve a few times now. We had an Indian takeaway on Christmas Day too ( preordered and Indian open).

It’s so much more relaxing when you have young children too.

We did it for years at 5.00pm om Christmas Eve when our 5DD's were small. It was brilliant as it meant I wasn't having to spend most of Christmas morning lurking around the oven and answering timers in the middle of playing Barbies/teaching bike riding/ building lego etc. Best thing ever. We just had a buffet late afternoon on Christmas Day and it's fair to say that the DD's probably consumed far too much chocolate but nobody cared - we're not religious so Christmas Day in our house was all about the children and presents. These days, they're all grown up and we all go out for Christmas dinner and that's great too. Stockings for everyone in the morning with Champagne and chocolate biscuits then lunch out for the whole family and back home for the mass present opening followed by board games and a late night cheese board. Simple, enjoyable family day for us and no tensions as there's so many of us now that you can always find someone to chat too. Can't wait!

My family and I went out for Christmas dinner last year. I absolutely didn’t regret it but we won’t do it again this year. The restaurant was a bit chaotic, they are a carvery and we waited ages for the soup starters then there were no plates so we waited for those and then after eating we waited about an hour for the plates to be cleared and dessert to be served. It was fine but I didn’t feel very comfortable, prefer to be in my slippers relaxing at home. It was great not to do the washing up though.

As a family we love prepping on Christmas Eve. My daughter has already started talking about making the pigs in blankets. We also make gingerbread & mince pies and take it to our neighbours which is always lovely.

It sounds a great idea but how does it work if your job means you work Christmas Eve as many people do .

No it doesn't work if all the adults in the family have to work a full day on Christmas Eve, but a lot of parents will be taking the day off, and a lot of offices shut a bit early or at lunchtime on the 24th.

We always used to have DPILs to stay for a few days before Xmas until Boxing Day to help out with childcare so if DH and I were working most of the day they'd put the turkey in the oven.

Haven't read the full thread. We have Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve every year since the kids. Pre kids we used to traipse lots of family over Christmas but once we had the kids wanted to stay home. Before my marriage split we used to have in-laws on Christmas Eve as they preferred to spend Christmas day on their own and we prefer for the DC's to stay in their pjs and play with their toys than traipse about and also don't want to waste the day cooking for kids who will barely touch it. So we have party food buffet on Christmas Day and have big dinner Christmas Eve. We will keep that up even though no in-laws now

Did it one year due to DH working Christmas Day and loved it so now that’s what we do every year. It seems much less work getting the dinner ready on Christmas Eve than it does on the day for some reason. We get up gently on Christmas Day- do stockings, have eggs and bagels for breakfast go for the local sea swim, come back and do main gifts. Picky lunch and afternoon playing games eating chocolates and making Lego. Dinner is side of salmon and potato salad v easy. I am the one doing all the cooking and it has made a huge difference to the relaxed feel of the day.