Christmas dinner on Christmas eve?

[yamsam]

Those of you who have your main Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day, come and tell me all about it!

I first saw someone mention doing this on Mumsnet a few years ago and remember thinking it sounded like such a lovely idea. Every year since, I’ve been a little more tempted, but I always end up talking myself out of it and doing the usual Christmas Day dinner. I think part of it is that nobody in my family has ever done it differently, so I’d be the first to break with tradition 😂

This year, though, I haven’t managed to talk myself out of it yet! The more I think about it, the more I really want to give it a go. I’m getting a bit fed up with spending Christmas Eve preparing everything, then spending such a big chunk of Christmas Day cooking it all.

I love the thought of getting the preparation done on the 23rd, then having a lovely sit-down Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, with everyone excited and all the anticipation of Santa still to come. Then waking up on Christmas morning knowing there’s no big dinner to organise, and just being able to enjoy the presents and spend time with everyone.

But I’ve never done it before, so I’d love to hear how it actually works for other families. Have any of you tried it and then regretted it when Christmas Day arrived? Did you find yourself wishing you’d waited, or feeling like something was missing? Or did you love it and wonder why you hadn’t done it sooner?

And what do you have to eat on Christmas Day itself? I’d still want the food to feel special and Christmassy, so I’d love to hear what you do instead of the traditional dinner. Do you have a buffet, a lovely breakfast, something completely different?

Basically, please tell me about your Christmases and give me some ideas! I’m very tempted to finally do it this year, but would love a bit of inspiration from people who already do 😊

We’ve done Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve for a few years now. As you say, it’s lovely doing all the prep on 23rd. We eat late-ish, so at the earliest 4pm so it’s dark and the table is all lovely with candles and soft lighting.
On 25th, we have something brunch-y but easy then leftovers and cheeseboard and charcuterie to graze on like an all day picnic.
Its so much more relaxing. We don’t have DC but I can imagine they might sleep better on Christmas Eve after a big meal and have much more fun playing with their toys rather than getting sat at the table on the big day.

We have done this for nearly ten years now, we thoroughly enjoy our Christmas Day because of it. Even though the grandchildren are grown up they still like to chill out with their family and presents instead of us being in the kitchen for hours.

we haven’t done this before but are taking the plunge this year. Found last year too stressful on Xmas day with 4 kids so think we can just spend the day chilling with them playing etc. they all fell asleep before we had dinner and refused to eat it !
planning a nice breakfast on Xmas day with a pizza for dinner (our fave food 🤣)

I was born in Germany, so it’s a tradition I’ve carried over since I was a child.
Essentially, you do the same as you would on Christmas Day, but you’re not missing out on gifts or time with the children, because your cooking was done the day before.
So we decorate the table on 23rd, peel the veg and prep the meat. Then we go to bed, walk up on Christmas Eve and have our Christmas dinner around 2pm.
Then everythings washed up and in the dishwasher by 5pm, when the children have their Christmas Eve boxes.
We finish up putting the star on the Tree, sing a few carols and watch miracle on 34th street.
That leaves Christmas Day totally free for presents etc. we get up on Christmas day (early, because, children!) they have their stockings and then we go downstairs. I get a cuppa, everyone else gets hot choc and we open presents.
Someone will then say “who wants a sandwich” and one of us (including the children - 12 and 8 so they’re old enough) will start the grill, and make sausage and bacon sandwiches. For the rest of the day we have snacks that are all easy to heat up (think pre cooked sausage rolls etc) and trifle from the day before. It’s so much nicer to relax and play with new items. This year my oldest is getting a bike, so likely we will have a walk where the children ride their bikes and use their new helmets and bike accessories. So much nicer than being stuck at a dinner table for hours.

I've done this for years, I'm the only cook so I'll be damned if I'm spending my Xmas day cooking and prepping 😂

I just cook the full roast plus anything else, crackers to pull etc, treat it like Christmas day then have left overs for as long as they last after which is usually 3 or 4 days. This year is a bit different as I'm working a lot between Xmas and new year but usually it's a low key, picky bits and chill few days.

I must say I don’t really get this. Unless you are from a country that celebrates on Christmas Eve. But I don’t think it’s a particularly big issue, cooking the dinner. I also prefer Christmas Eve to Christmas Day.

You are just moving the cooking to another day, what else would you do on Christmas Day?

We have done this for the last few years , children are grown up and two of us work in healthcare so often work Xmas day/Boxing Day. It means that partners can come to us and then go to their parents on Xmas day. On Xmas day we go to our local pub for a couple of hours and then eat cheese, homemade pork pie and mince pies, play board games and watch Xmas films. I love it even though I never found Xmas day stressful.