Christmas Eve tea

[fairydust]

My side of the family and dh also have a special tea on xmas eve and i jsut wondered if anyone else does this ???

If so what sort of thing do you cook?

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We always have a big casserole type family dinner, e.g. beef with beer and chestnuts, beef with walnuts. Served with mounds of mash.

I find this is easy as can put in oven early on in the day and left to cook so doesn't disrupt the preparations for the following day.

We always have a nice selection of finger food and champagne to start - once everyone has arrived.

We don't normally have a big pud, but would have warm mince pies.

Later on in the evening once the kiddies are all tucked up, we open a bottle of port and serve a lovely selection of cheese and biccies - yum yum!

My family normally annoy me in the evening, as I will have run myself ragged getting all of the preparations done so that we can start christmas proper as soon as they arrive. On the otherhand they will have forgotten to do any wrapping up and will spend the evening (after the children are in bed) wrapping up like people possessed! I normally always get roped in - silently seething.

Ahhh the joys of families at Christmas time

We like to have fish on Christmas Eve - smoked salmon, prawns, crab and then mince pies, nuts, chocs, etc. I don't want to cook on Christmas Eve as well as Christmas Day!

We just start in on the sausage rolls and mince pies I've made for the next day! Have something something hot at lunchtime.

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Last year I did chicken in stilton sauce for just hubby and the children we sat in the dining room and did it properly with candles, havent thought about what to do this year yet. I know it was ruined though by too many bloody visitors. Bah Humbug.

We always have done because it's my Mum's birthday!

I have birthday cake and party food, ohhh and alcohol. Last year I was exhausted, DS was 13 days old and it was my 30th. Not really in the mood for a party. But this year..........
The 24th December is birthday 'day' and we don't do anything Christmassy. But..... I am sure that this is about to change now DS is here!!!!!

Like the sound of Christmas Eve at Soapbox's. Especially the port and cheese after the children are in bed. Yum.

Wow, Oooggs, I did Christmas Eve with a dd of 6 days old and a 30th with ds of 25 days old but not both together IYSWIM.

Would never like to repeat Christmas with a week old baby, hated it, but it's great now, her birthday really starts the whole Christmas thing for us.

We usually have home made pasta sauce or lasagne or something else non-Christmassy on Christmas Eve. No idea why, just as a change to the main event I guess.

We follow (approximately) the Danish custom and have Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve, at my Mum and Dad's. My brother and his wife are there too and occasionally other close friends of the family.

We used to have turkey, then we tried goose but recently Mum has been rigning the changes - I think this year it is going to be a large roast fillet of beef. We have a nice but simple starter - soup or smoked salmon or something like that.

The piece de resistance is the Danish Christmas pudding - a rice pudding with whipped cream and chopped almonds (and one whole almond) folded through, served with black cherries in syrup. Whoever gets the whole almond (no prodding and poking, nor any hiding allowed), gets the almond prize - so everyone has to keep eating until it is found!

It makes Chritmas Day nice and relaxed for Mum - just cold leftvers, reheated soup - and traditional Christmas pudding (put on to boil!).

We tend to stay over, have Christmans breakfast, open some of the presents, then go home, open the rest of our presents and then have OUR Christmas dinner - until this year, a romantic meal for two (starter, roast pheasant and traditional Christmans pudding - and loads of GOOD wine), but now that ds is 4, I suspect he will want to join in!

We normally cook the ham and have it hot on Xmas Eve then have lots left over for breakfasts and lunches for the next few days.
Xmas day breakfat is traditionally ham and poached eggs at ours. Oooh I can't wait .

Xmas Eve dinner for us is a 'bits' meal - champagne, smoked salmon, a really nice salad, some expensive antipasta (the stuff in small jars that we can't usually justify buying), nice olives, interesting cheeses, and salted peanuts for DH (who is a peanut fanatic). Eaten by candlelight with Christmas music playing.

For me, the wind-down to enjoy Christmas starts when that choirboy in Kings College Chapel leads off into 'Once in Royal David's City'. From then on in, I want to relax, and that doesn't include cooking on Christmas Eve!

I love, love, love Christmas Eve! We have a simple meal, in preparation for the blowout next day. We always have smoked salmon, salad and brown bread, plus anything I can rustle up for pud.