Eating out on Christmas day?

[speakout]

I have just booked christmas day lunch for our family.
Has anyone eaten out on christmas day?
The past couple of years has seemed such a faff, big grocery shop before hand, the prep, making stock a few days before. We can never agree on meat choices so usually ends up with two, once the meal is over the sink is piled high with greasy dishes, food on the floor, gravy up the walls, carcasses sitting in the fridge afterwards. My OH usually cooks and washes up too, it seems such a lot of work.

The majority will be more than happy to work. It isn’t a special day for everyone

Not really a choice for most in hospitality, unless you count resigning as a choice.

Ds(19) is working Christmas day this year, and cant even book days off the weekends before as it is peak party season. Most of his colleagues are students who need the jobs for money to see them through uni.

Not so far but we might next year as my mum is getting less mobile so might cope better in a restaurant

They’d still be working whether you were there anyway. My husband is a chef and has worked many times on Christmas Day. Goes with the territory in hospitality. Although if we went out I would probably go to an Indian where a lot of the staff may not be as bothered about Christmas anyway

We usually go to our local Turkish restaurant....great non traditional food!

Been going out for 30yrs Relaxed with nothing to do all day.

Happy to report a lovely meal out on Christmas day.
Wonderful atmosphere, good food, relaxed- big log fire keeping us cosy.
My DD and I enjoyed getting our glad rags on, and est of all came home to a clean pristine kitchen.

@speakout Really pleased to hear it! I’m absolutely doing the same thing next Christmas day.

I’m in the thick of things with a 3 week old baby (Also have 14 year old and 4 year old) I’m knackered and I stupidly cooked this year. Spent all day in the kitchen and am sick of being stuck in the house (Although somewhat understandable with a newborn)

Our local pub is calling next Christmas day. We can walk in 10 mins and for once i’ll be waited on. Baby will be 12 months - hopefully she’ll nap through it 😂

VillageFete glad to hear it.
I will definitely eating out again next christmas.
When my kids were young we would often get an Indian meal takeaway from our favourite Indian restaurant. My kids have been chilli heads from a young age, they preferred indian to traditional.

I would say do what you need to to make the day enjoyable- for everyone.

Going out made my and OHs christmas day much more relaxed and we had a lot more time to spend with the family, we watched a movie and Dr Who.
It wasn't just the meal and day itself, we didn't have to do a big food shop, no prepping, stock making or big clean of the kitchen afterwards.
Also no animal carcasses cramming up the fridge for days afterwards.

So much less stress all round.

We tried it this year - the positives were a lovely relaxed day as nobody had to cook so that was amazing. Negatives were all down to the restaurant so we would definitely do it again but would choose somewhere different as we were disappointed for multiple reasons

We had lunch out this year, was great. No cooking or washing up!

I wouldn't really fancy it myself. I prefer the atmosphere at home, especially if with kids who might not want to sit at a restaurant table for a long time. Just being able to sit around the table for as long as you like, making as much noise as you like. Going and opening presents or playing a game, and then coming back for pudding. Then another break, then cheese....

Have you considered buying everything in from eg Cook. I've tried some of their things and they are really pretty good. Would be a lot less work than cooking from scratch. And much cheaper and more homely than a restaurant.

Of course, if you fancy a restaurant then go for it!!

Sorry, just seen your update. Glad you enjoyed it!

ds(19) had his first experience of working on Christmas day. He has been bar staff/drinks table service at a 4 star hotel - working events such as weddings, charity dos, funerals, parties etc since around March this year.

It was bedlam behind the scenes and he came home knackered, no break from 10am to 6pm. They struggled to recruit staff this year so by the time the 3rd sitting was in (previous sittings didn't have to leave, they just staggered them coming in for food service) he was covering 11 tables of around 10 people per table. He consoled two of the female servers out back having a quick cry/composing themselves before heading back out into the fray again.

It sounds like he works with a great wee team and they worked hard together to pull it off. Their manager supported them all as much as possible, telling them to take a break out back if they needed it and trying to shield them from the worst offenders.

He is going to wait and see what tips he gets (they get shared between all staff in January) to see if it is worth sticking the job out next year as while he expected it to be hard graft he did not expect some customers to seem to take pleasure from being difficult for minor easily resolvable mistakes and talking down to young staff the way they did - something he hasn't seen much of at other events. He naively expected to come out of the day hyped having got through it and instead came out really down.

The highlight was a little boy giving him his present from the hotel Santa (a small wrapped selection box) as a tip. ❤

Glad everyone who went out enjoyed it, especially if they were nice and considerate to the staff! ❤