Xmas dinner: what lessons have you learned this year ...

[franch]

... especially about labour saving: what you can cut corners on, how much you can do in advance etc?

I'd say:

• buy all the sauces, stuffing, gravy, sausages and bacon thingies ready made - also M&S pudding (the connoisseur one) was fab.
• parboil potatoes in advance and freeze.
• prepare veg the day before.

I'm making a note of all this now - come Dec 09 I won't be able to remember any of it.

To keep itinary from this year although I am dubious about turkey again for a few years as DP and I were the only two who touched it. Ah yes and do not give free rein to sweeties. Keep some back. We had 3 non-eating hysterical children for most of the afternoon. Drink more wine and buy myself a huge box of chocolates to eat whilst cooking.

oooh thanks franch - will deffo do thet in the future!

Banning your Mother from the kitchen preserves your sanity and your relationship.
(It also means that she lets DS's open all boxes of toys so we don't know what goes with what and have hundreds of tiny Playmobil parts in every corner of the lounge, but hey ho!)
A bottle of champagne sipped slowly also helps
My homemade (by DS's and me) Christmas pudding rocks and is better than any my Mom could buy
Still loving the Capon as opposed to Turkey
If we didn't have a gas hob (as we thought we might not), we'd be fine

Not to go to my Dads and his girlfriends next year! I'm not being ungrateful but I think its a bit wrong to serve cup a soups for starters on Christmas day! Will invite them to mine next year.

I learned that parsnips aren't actually disgusting if you ask Mumsnetters how to cook them instead of boiling them badly like MIL always did.

cup a soup!

Yes cup a soups, my Dad asked 'would you like tomato or chicken and mushroom?' I was gob smacked!

pinkmagic - are you from the Royle Family

That this done in a [[[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cuisinart-CSC650U-Cook-Hold-Cooker/dp/B0007PC6IW big slow cooker] only with a large half-price boneless pork leg joint instead of bally is easier, cheaper and tastier than turkey .

That asking my mum to bring dessert is not labour-saving, as she only brought fruit salad which will not satisfy my family, so I ended up making a proper dessert anyway .

That roast potatoes always take far far longer in my oven than I remember, especially if I par boil them before church, so they go into the oven cold, but...

That if I have given everyone decent nibbles when they arrive mid-morning then no-one minds if lunch is a little delayed.

big slow cooker

How long do frozen par-boiled potatoes last in the freezer? Can I keep some in there at the ready year round instead of oven chips ?

Here you go - freeze-ahead roast potatoes recipe - they keep for up to a month apparently Grendle.

There's a thread here about doing the same with parsnips which is interesting.

Not to ,ake Nigellas gingerbread stuffing - NO-ONE liked it Go on someone tell me it went down well in your house!

I hate Nigella. She is a patronising, cardigan wearing affront to women's liberation.

I learned this year it's much better to go out with my DH and the DC's (4 of them) than shop/prepare and cook and clean up for my extended family!!!
It was cheaper to pay for the 6 of us to go out for Christmas dinner than buy all the gubbins to feed 16 so that's is a very valuable lesson for us!!!

Totally agree with aGalChangedHerName.

Had a lovely dinner out at fil's golf club with inlaws. None of the usual bickering/ insults. Totally stress free.

Will be doing this every year from now on.

Well we actually did it last year with my parents and my db and his dc. We however got stuck with the bill for db and his family.
They split up just after Christmas last year so that wasn't a problem this year

Isn't it great to just get up,open gifts,tart oneself up and head out for dinner??

The Delia Christmas (Rum & Coconut) Ice Cream always goes down well after a massive lunch (either on CHristmas Pud or on its own).

You will always have too much leftover turkey.

You did not need to buy all the extra's for tea as no-one wants anything after lunch.

Dont buy stupidly expensive organic turkey crown. It still tastes rank and you end up using it in curry anyway. Buy gorgeous bit of sainsburys taste the difference beef and have that instead....yum yum yum.

Do double the amout of roast pts and brussels for bubble and squeak.

It's so true about roast potatoes. There really are never enough.

I am cooking a Christmas dinner on New Years Day tho as we had Indian on Christmas Day.

I will re read this thread and have the perfect day!!

I made plenty of roast potatoes because I love them but I on my first Christmas diner ever I:

over cooked the turkey and found there was surprisingly little meat on a 6.5kg turkey.
ditto big duck.

learned its very hard to cook with a small kitchen and oven and would love a big range cooker (day dreams happily) and a big kitchen with an island.

realised that I was trying to over stretch myself by wanting to do an evening buffet on my first xmas ever and made sandwiches instead. I did my buffet the next day and took it to my mums.

I also learned that it doesn't matter how many times you are in the supermarket and ask dp what drinks and snacks he would like he will always ask for something you don't have when it come to it.

To always let DH cook it. He did it this year and it was amazing.

Christmas dinner is just a roast with a cracker!