Have the Christmas dinner I want, not the one the OH cooks. He's a great cook but I can't remember if we have ever had a dinner like I had as a child in our entire marriage.
So before dinner there has to be meatballs. Not smoked salmon. No pigs in blankets. (sausages to go with the sausage meatloaf????)
A hot, fresh from the oven turkey (or chicken or other bird) has to be stuffed with bread and onion stuffing. Not a sausage meatloaf that is referred to as stuffing for some ridiculous reason. Stuffing has to go into something.
Good white wine will be served with dinner. No one will have had anything much to drink before that. Though it's possible that a baileys might be available with the breakfast coffee or a bit of fizz in the orange juice.
With dinner there has to be both mashed potatoes and mashed turnip. (I will allow this to be swede as that's available whereas what I call turnip isn't). I might make a salad or I might have peas.
There will be gravy made from the pan drippings, thickened with flour (wheat, not cornflour) and made rich and creamy with the ingredients my mom used to use.
There will be no trifle or pudding or mince tarts. Instead very tiddly homemade shortbread and iced grape nut squares and if I decide to go all out on a wing - Nanaimo bars. Ice wine might be available to finish the meal.
It will be served earlyish - so about 5 pm. Which means by 9 pm there's a bit of room to snack on some of the left over meatballs and then have some more shortbread and squares.