Daughter’s Culinary Christmas List

[PinkTigerLily]

Dd (6) asks Santa for specific Christmas dinner items every year. I mean out of the box stuff - spinach, pasta, meatballs…

She is well fed with homemade dinners every evening, made from fresh British produce with typically 3-4 fruits/vegetables, 3 days vegetarian, 3 days meat/fish, and then a (homemade) pie or a roast on Sundays. Minimal butter/oil (2-3 tbsp per meal). Lunches from school catering, so she’s getting fairly round meals too. She’ll eat everything. I guess my point is, she’s not starving or deprived of fresh, healthy foods. She’ll ask for specific meals now and again if we haven’t had it in a while (she loves mushrooms, for example).

She’s not asking Santa for cr@p. She’s laying out her ideal Christmas dinner. See attached photo. I’m just… 😐The cheek of it! I’m the one who cooks it! Not Santa! Nor does he order in the groceries! I’m not gonna say anything to her though… She’s still young, right?

Anyone else’s kid(s) do this? Or did they ever at some point? If so, when or how did it stop?

Edit: Fixed it

What a palaver

so you cook different meals for people on Christmas Day according to what they order? Or just your daughter? Does she not eat what you generally serve for Christmas?

She is well fed with homemade dinners every evening, made from fresh British produce with typically 3-4 fruits/vegetables, 3 days vegetarian, 3 days meat/fish, and then a (homemade) pie or a roast on Sundays. Minimal butter/oil (2-3 tbsp per meal).

what does this have to do with anything?

In previous years I will serve Christmas dinner more buffet style with her requests as little side dishes. So everyone will take a bit of everything. For example, last year she asked for pasta and sprouts so I put some sprouts, sausage and pancetta through pasta to be like… Pigs in Blankets replacement? I know, outrageous. I don’t want to ruin whatever magic she had in mind :( but I think meatballs and spinach has pushed it too far lmao

Is she an only child?

I’ve seen loads of people make assumptions that if a child is asking for food from Santa it’s because they’re in some sort of jeopardy, like financially struggling to put food on the table. NOT the case here.

Really? Not seen one.

She has a sister, 18 months old. Toddler has an even wider palette than her. Like, I could have veg in the oven a bit too long, enough to make it bitter, she’ll still scoff it.

It sounds like she put her requests in before, and got them.
Now she's doing it again.

There's no malice, she hasn't given it any logical thought of Santa vs you. She's not starved, just fancies meatballs.

So when are you going to offer to cook whatever your youngest wants?

this all sounds a bit… well why not make it she packed whatever she wants on another day?

Why did you let this go beyond the first year? Surely a “no darling, Santa doesn’t bring dinner, he brings toys and presents and me and daddy cook dinner so we’ll have turkey (or whatever)” would have nipped this in the bud?

I mean. Why not just do it? You don’t HAVE to have a roast on Christmas.

I haven’t seen posts more nuanced like asking for specific foods, just kids asking for any Christmas dinner and parents worrying about letting them down. I saw a case where there was a fundraiser for the parent, raised thousands, because the child asked for this (I believe to Santa’s face at a Christmas fête).

So you thoughts you’d tell us you rarely cook with butter and oil? 😵‍💫

I’d ignore it or serve her requests to her on Christmas Eve. It’s rather precocious.

I’m a bit confused by this post and what sort of response you’re looking for. Based on her Christmas list your daughter looks absolutely brilliant and it sounds like you have done a fantastic job at developing good eating habits- the fact she is asking for proper food not junk food!
Cooking everyone’s different favourite thing for actual Christmas dinner would be a massive PITA but if it was me, Santa would reply that he has spoken to you and you are going to do her favourite meal on a different day so when Christmas is done she has got that to look forward to.

This year you’ll be joining us in what we have for Christmas lunch love, but you get to pick whatever you fancy for dinner on first day back at school

Job done

Agree with above, do her choice of dinner on Christmas Eve and then she can join in with the roast on Christmas Day. It’s a bit of a potch to be cooking extra little pasta dishes which don’t match with anything on the day, especially if you have a lot of people to cater for.

This is not the only interpretation of these scenarios. There are kids who are fed takeout every day, and yearn for veggies. We had a toddler nick our toddler’s bloody celery in a café the other day, the parents were feeding him KFC from next door. I’m not bashing them, could’ve been a one-off, but it is something kids ask for.

This is getting weird

What? I’m genuinely confused now.

Thank you. Honestly just thought the situation itself was a bit odd, and was curious if it’s more common than I assume. She’s my first child, after all. Still learning how to navigate the whole Santa situation.

How so?

What on earth is this post on about? Your dd asks for a specific xmas dinner every year and you cook it but you don't like doing it but do it anyway and then resent her? And you worry people will think you don't feed her enough? None of this makes any sense. Just have xmas dinner and she can take or leave whichever bits she wants.

A even weirder