Christmas Eve Dinner

[ChristmasCrumpet]

Just looking for some ideas really.

We don't want to to the "Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve" thing, which does sound lovely, but we'll have the whole family here Christmas Day, and they'll want a Christmas Dinner, and so will the kids.

Christmas Day evening, we put out a late buffet for the adults when the DC have gone to bed, charcuterie, cheeseboard, canapes etc...so don't want that Christmas Eve either.

We don't really want a heavy meal like a Chinese or Indian takeaway either.

I know this is a lot of "don'ts"...

What we do want, is something special, just the two of us, as DC will have a pizza, yet as low maintenance as possible, as we'll be doing the last minute house prep/wrapping and would like to not be faffing with fancy cooking.

Any ideas?

We normally have a picky tea. Fresh bread with Camembert, that type of thing.

Every Christmas Eve we do panto, pub drinks, Christmas Eve box, meal at harvester, matching pajamas, film, night before Christmas, Bed

no messing around here 😝

We always have baked Camembert crusty bread. Roast mini potatoes. Salad.
Yum.
Might have to have a practice run this weekend 🤣

Baked ham, jacket potatoes and coleslaw. Maybe add a green salad. Job done 😂

Fish pie.

We always do a macaroni cheese with big prawns. Has to be brown and crispy on the top cos thems the rules.

Other than the picky bits (which is what we're having the following day, so no good, as per OP) a lot of these sound like quite heavy meals.

I'd feel like lead if I had a heavy meal Christmas Eve, then breakfast, Christmas dinner, and evening food the following day!

I'm determined to avoid the dreaded food coma this year. Cook all morning, eat too much, sleep.

Lobster Mac and cheese! Doesn’t take much time, is a bit special, and you can have small portions of something delicious. If there are leftovers, it is super cold with the ham and cold turkey buffet supper on Christmas Day.

Seafood linguine, salad, crisp glass of wine.

Fish pie (and a bottle of wine)

you can pre-made ones from Cook that are lovely

Looks like you may be best with beans on toast🙂

Last year we had a house full and did fajitas and margaritas. Was really nice.

Christmas eve is always party food in our house. It's perfect :)

Smoked salmon, avocado and prawns?

Or just have something really simple - omelette/beans on toast/soup?

Every meal doesn't have to be 'special' just because it's Christmas. Or be radical ... go on a fast .

I make a large honey and mustard ham earlier in the day, and we eat it on Christmas Eve, as a side on Christmas Day and then in Boxing Day sandwiches if there’s any left.

Big chilli or lasagne. Something non christmassy and easy so we can play board games. Always our Xmas eve. Tradition

Going by the many, many posts that 99% ignore everything I've stated in my OP, or seem to think the question is "tell me what you do/eat on Christmas Eve," beans on toast is one of the better suggestions

This sounds good and not too heavy. With some nice tortillas and salsa etc

Scrambled eggs and salmon. Takes minutes. Goes well with champagne if you want to drink.

We generally do a side of salmon and veg with different sauces and crusts.

Best one so far has been a Prosecco sauce and a seven seed crust.

it looks nice for guests and it’s light enough not to feel heavy and stodgy.

I may have found an occassion to use my new cactus margaruita glasses now thank you 😊

We always have salad bits!
Crusty bread

We always have baked scallops in shells (Aldi do some nice ones as do M&S) with champagne. Lovely just as they are if you want to keep it light or we often serve them with very thin fries and a salad.

I think seafood is perfect for that special but not too heavy option.

We work shifts and dp didn't get home till 9pm Christmas eve and was back up on an early. We had hotdogs.

I would be tempted by:

• pasta like tortellini (you can get some lovely fresh different ones) and garlic bread / nice sauce. Super easy to cook and not too heavy.
• fresh fish and salad / chips
• I nearly said a home pre made lasagne but washing the dish with burnt bits sounds like a pain
• steak is always a winner at MIL with chips and salad, that’s their traditional meal on Christmas Eve