Not to have an actual meal on Christmas day?

[Broodywuz]

So inspired from a post on another Christmas thread I've been thinking about Christmas Dinner. Last year was the 1st year we've done it home ourselves and plan to do this from now on, only myself, DH and 2 DC, ages 5 & 2. Last year i did a big picky breakfast around 10am which then sat out to nibble on, and full works 3 course Christmas Dinner 4pm. It was nice but DC didn't eat a huge amount probably because of all the chocolate they'd consumed and we have roast dinner most Sunday's so it didn't feel like that much of a novelty, we were also so full after that we didn't really enjoy pudding and just wanted to sleep after. This year I'm wondering about still do the picky breakfast but rather than a proper turkey dinner, have 2/3 small starters throughout the afternoon then nice nibbles for the evening. Anyone done this? Do you think it be a let down for christmas day?

Loving all this. Thanks for the lists of buffet food. I like the idea of having a turkey meal on christmas eve, also left over turkey and pigs in blankets would be a good addition to christmas day buffet.

If it was up to me I’d have a lovely Xmas dinner for tea on Xmas eve, I’d dress the table nicely and really go for it. Then do a buffet Xmas day dinner, and left overs for tea.

I think this is what we're going to go for this year, will be lovely to be able to relax christmas day and spend it playing with dc rather than being focused on the meal.

I do roast turkey on Christmas Day so that I don’t have to focus on the meal, OP!
We put the turkey in a slow oven after a buffet lunch, then all go out up the Sidlaw hills to walk round a large loch and admire the stunning views while it cooks itself.
When we get home, we turn up the oven, unwrap the bird from its foil to brown, and get the roast potatoes on. I make the veg in advance and freeze them, so on the day they just defrost quickly in the microwave. Usually red cabbage, apple and onion in red wine, with clove, cinnamon and Muscovado sugar and a squirt of cider vinegar.
The adult DC and their partners all help to carve, make gravy from the turkey drippings and serve up, so it’s very quickly on the table. We then have a lovely meal
with lots of wine and chat, Christmas crackers, games and jokes.
There’s usually enough turkey left for easy meals (curry, salad, etc) for Boxing Day and the day after.

I’m glad there’s a thread on this.
It’s just me, DH and our 10yo on Christmas Day this year. PILs are coming over on Boxing Day, so I know DH will do a roast then.

Do whatever works for you. It's just DH and I so we have a massive picky cheese and charcuterie board on Christmas Day and graze from it most of the day. We make it more exciting than a normal cheese board by going to get it all from the local posh deli rather than co-op

For me it wouldn’t be Christmas without the dinner. Don’t forget that your kids will get older and there will be no Santa so the theatre of the dinner can be a nice part of the day

Now if I had no one else in the house this would be mine and DHs dream - one day !

We go out Christmas Eve to local pub and have their Christmas menu and then we do a very relaxed buffer Christmas Day. No idea why we didn't do this when children we're younger and cause ourselves less stress!

I did the same one year, and the kids felt ill and sick from all the junk food, and didn't eat their dinner. Then I only put out croissants and orange juice for breakfast. Cooked a small Xmas dinner at lunchtime, then put out the chocolates and crisps at 4pm. It works out much better. If you don't fancy a traditional xmas dinner, you could do sushi/curry/lobster!

Sounds good to me! Christmas is for doing what you want to do, after all.
It's usually just me and DP and we make a big dinner on Xmas Eve (we tend to have a roast chicken or some nice fish). We deliberately make too much and then on Xmas Day there's delicious leftovers and we don't have to bother about cooking.
But we hardly ever have roasts, so a roast chicken IS a bit of a treat for us.

Do as the royals do- as their history is German, they have their Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve night.
My family in Austria do the same. Christmas Day itself is church and a more relaxed family day.

Personally I love Christmas dinner. DC grown up, present opening is much more low key, stopped going to church years ago so the focus is a lovely family meal with candles, wines and crackers followed by games .

In real life I have never met a single person who celebrates Christmas and doesn’t have something approximating a traditional Christmas dinner. Including Muslim colleagues celebrating in a low key secular way.

Yet on MN everyone claims to have Chinese takeaway or everyone has their favourite meal (presumably a ready meal or else the world has gone mad) or pizza or something.

I don’t care what anyone has as long as they’re happy, but it makes me wonder whether it’s the MN demographic or me who is at odds with the norm!

When my girls were little and it was just the three of us, or when they were away with their dads family, we’d have Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve and then on Christmas Day we’d have leftovers and our favourite meal.

The years they were away it was cheese, biscuits and chutneys.

When they were home it varied. One year they had a lasagne (made the day before) with leftover roasties and pigs in blankets because that’s what they wanted.
Another year they had quiche, fish fingers and leftovers. They loved it, but thankfully did agree that those two faves shouldn’t be combined again 😂

They now love a traditional Christmas dinner.

We have ours on Christmas eve. It's a lot better as with two young children Christmas day is now more relaxing and seeing children open presents instead of rushing to cook

Are we the only ones who have a roast on Xmas eve and Xmas day 😂

No idea what we are doing this year, we usually have a nice M&S easy stick in the oven beef roast of some sort, but this year ds, who works part time as a bar steward at hotel event while at uni is working. They have been told they are not allowed to book time off over Christmas (he is ok with this as he has been told by friends who did it last year the tip money is good and it will help him through the next term) and he isn't sure when they will get told the shifts.

So the plan is to have our family Christmas meal on another day instead and Christmas Day it will probably be just me and dh! Might treat dh to a M&S lamb guard of honour as he loves it but ds doesn't so we don't usually buy!

I remember a work colleague saying she done the full works dinner on Xmas eve and a running buffet on Christmas day, she said the kids slept better on Xmas eve and the actual day was much easier , seeing as Xmas eve is a Sunday this year why not give a go. I haven't cooked a trad Xmas lunch for years. Eat what you want when you want , surely that is what makes it special.

Oh God, these threads are going to be constant now until December. No one cares what you choose to eat on Christmas day. Just have whatever you want 🙄

I would love to have steak and chips!

If it was just DH and me, we would have something different and indulgent. But I like the tradition when family are together.

I would do a dinner in Christmas Eve, with candles, lights, make it ‘magical’, a lovely Christmas film, kids in bed, cheese course and port with DH.

Breakfast: fun and everyone’s favourites.

Have a great few hours presents and playing.

’Christmas Picnic Tea’ Maybe fire pit in the garden to roast chestnuts.

Kids in bed

Easy but delicious romantic dinner with DH. What ever you like: something you can heat up like Coq au vin , or steak, smoked salmon and prawns, whatever. Wine, chocs, film.

I learned my lesson that the timing of a big Christmas dinner is really important when dealing with a 4 year old!
Last year I got it right by sticking to his usual food times. The year before I’d tried to do the big dinner too early and he barely ate a bite.

We did croissants and fruit for breakfast
Chocolate and fruit for snacks
At his normal lunch time I did the starter
At dinnertime we had the turkey followed by pudding.

He ate all his dinner and it made the day much less stressful as he wasn’t cranky and hangry!

I made the mistake of doing a picky Boxing Day rather than doing the leftovers pie I normally make. I spent the whole day moving food from table to fridge and back again. I don’t think I’d bought enough to substitute a lunch and dinner so DH was foraging the cupboards by the evening. It would have been easier to just cook the pie!