Christmas Eve meal traditions!

[RaisingABabyBell]

Sorry to use the C word already, but thinking of starting a new tradition for Christmas Eve! My husband and I have always done a spread of party food - pizza, mozzarella sticks, spring rolls etc. What else do you guys do? All suggestions and ideas welcome 🥰

Fish and chips from the chip shop.
Not very seasonal maybe but saves time!

We always have a cheese board. Look forward to it all year.

Normally something like oven chips and nuggets or pizza. Quick and easy with minimal clean up.

We do chicken fajitas, chilli and refried beans with guacamole, cheese, sour cream and tortillas

i don’t remember why 🤔

if the children are home in the 23rd we do home made pizza with our outdoor pizza oven, i think that was mainly to make the most of the oven and try not to keep it to the summer 😀

Packet of Mini Cheddars in the pub.

Seafood platter

I always have our ham on Christmas Eve, my parents started this tradition and all my siblings have carried on with it. Normally with jackets / crusty bread and salad and loads of my home made chutney and pickles. Perfect easy and not to much work / clearing up ready for church in the evening.

i only do a Turkey Christmas Day, just don’t see the need to do 2 or 3 different meats, the hams there if anyone wants it and I can heat it up for them, but my family just ever wants the Turkey / veg option for my daughter

We usually have Xmas day at the in-laws on on Xmas Eve I do our own roast turkey for DH and the kids. They love it! Feels like they have 2 Xmas days lol didn't become a thing until about 4 years ago. Before that it just used to be party food and snacks.

Steak and chips

We have a tradition that has become known as "anything goes" where everyone gets to choose their favourite meal to have on Christmas Eve. Then, on the day, everyone mucks in to try and get all the different meals on the table at the same time.

It's complete chaos, but lots of fun! We all prefer that meal to the big Christmas Day spread.

We have an early dinner of a McDonald’s drive through on the way home from a big walk or swimming (to try and use some of the kiddos energy up!)
we bring it home and watch a film all together whilst we eat, and then later on when the kids are in bed me and dh share a cheese melt/fondue pot thing (goes in the oven- usually just from Aldi) with some nice bread, olives etc and some wine.

One of my favourite traditions!
We do beige buffet food on Boxing Day.

We did turkey cranberry and brie sausage rolls and chocolate ripple last year it was excellent. All made ahead and easy to serve and lovely to eat.

We do "platter" - basically all the lovely cold things thrown on the table, with possibly a pack of M&S party nibbles or some sausage rolls that are hot. I'll list things below - but we don't have all of those every year, but a decent spread of what we've got that year from the list across most of the categories.

Seafood - smoked salmon, hot smoked salmon, prawns, crab legs, squid rings.
Cooked/cured meats - baked ham, Parma or Serrano ham, salamis, cooked turkey, proper corned beef
Cheese - a choice of 4/5 cheeses, usually starting some special ones for Christmas
Salad things - leaves, pepper sticks, carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, olives
Dippy stuff- Hummus, guacamole, salsa, tapenade, pesto
Breadsticks, french stick, crackers

Everyone serves themselves whatever they want, can try a little of something and decide they don't like it, but there's always some favourites out. (It was how we noticed dd would try things as a fussy eater, so we had a period of having a far less fancy version most Sundays to encourage new things and allow her to decide for herself what she'd eat).

A large melted camembert with redcurrent sauce, fresh crusty bread and a side salad.
A simple but tasty beginning to the festive season.

Usually a Chinese including crispy duck pancakes. Last year we had duck instead of turkey on Christmas Day so had nachos grande and a chilli instead. Key is to have a communal meal that everyone can share at the table.

We buy a cooked ham from the butcher. So have cold ham, eggs & chips. Easy and tasty. Never bother with ham on Christmas Day but nice to have in the fridge for meals/sandwiches over Christmas.

We usually order a takeaway, probably a few pizzas, chips and nuggets.

Past 4 years we've gone for an Indian curry in the village. It's lush then home to light the fire, pj's, last minute wrapping and a Baileys/ wine.

We always have a Domino's, extra special because we have maybe three takeaways a year on average.

I make Christmas shaped pizzas for DS & DD, and DH make steak, chips, peas & peppercorn sauce for us.

Christmas eve is our Christmas dinner. Basically because mum grew up in Brussels and that's how she was brought up. But we have chateaubriand not turkey.

We always go out-used to be local italian now pub so ddog can come along.

The table is already laid for christmas dinner and kitchen busy waiting for the day tomorrow so we love not having to tidy it or cook tbh and absolutely no work for anyone.

One of my fav traditions tbh

Cold spread with fish, seafood, cheese, etc. including a couple of very specific dishes that have become our own tradition over the years.

Pork pies, pickles, assorted sandwiches and crisps with mince pies to follow. A tradition started years ago by my parents, so easy when you've got to be up early the next day and have all the cooking of the Christmas dinner ahead of you!

I always do a big ham with breads and salads. It lasts until boxing day when we have it with left over Christmas beef.