What will your Christmas Day menu look like?

We'll most likely be over at my parents, I usually start the turkey or ham at home then finish cooking it at mom's. Mom does mashed potatoes, my MIL brings her famous bean salad. My cousin brings a few other sides. We always do potluck style dinner on holidays.

I shall be with DS and family, but we shall be having our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, as DS is working on both the 25th and 26th. On Christmas Day we are having a Swedish buffet (DD-outlaw is Swedish), and then DS goes off to his late shift.

DD and DGC will be here for Xmas. We will be eating a cold buffet as we never have a roast on Xmas Day. We have a full Xmas dinner a week or so before. Xmas Day is for relaxing and opening presents with DGC not for all day in the kitchen cooking and washing up in our home.

Remember to put the top on the liquidizer even when you have had two large brandies 🤣

Having just enjoyed a fabulously tasty M&S 'meal deal', with a few extras, I did comment to my DH that maybe we should consider this for Christmas Day, job done!

Norah Sounds great. Might try that

How do people manage so many different veggies and side dishes?

All I’ve ever done is turkey with stuffing (easy homemade in advance and frozen) lots of pigs in blankets ditto, loads of roast potatoes, roast parsnips, carrots and sprouts just steamed - we like sprouts so don’t feel the need to tart them up.
And cranberry sauce, which I usually make in 10 minutes a few days ahead.
Proper gravy, made in the roasting tin, with giblet stock (simmered the day before).

Then Christmas pud (my trusty old GH version, flamed) brandy butter, cream, various fruits, a cheeseboard, mince pies.

How people manage extra veg, esp. cauliflower cheese, which we love but which IMO needs to be made last minute, ditto Yorkshire puds, not to mention other extra veg, I just don’t know.

The usual Christmas roast with turkey that we always have again for the third time with reduced numbers but this time for family reasons.
On the other hand if turkey is not available, Beef Wellington it is!

All family will visit me but I have told them I am not cooking.
I am hosting a meal in a restaurant four days before Christmas for ten people. On the day itself there will be a buffet where they can help themselves to whatever they fancy.

We will be 10 around the table this year. It is not our turn (we have another similar family of friends who take turns at making dinner) This year we will be at our home because my other two children will be visiting us in St Lucia.

We have everything traditional. Sons will work together as they both love to cook. I make the gravy and the brandy sauce for our Christmas pudding. Wine and champagne will flow ( son deals in wines; Being at home means this old girl can slope off for a rest after the lunch and give my old dogs some attention. We always watch the Queens speech ( 4 hours behind UK so 11 am for us). This year it will be the Kings speech and I know I will miss seeing the Queen, it is a tradition for us never to miss this and our glasses will be raised and we will toast the King.

Even when we all lived in Australia and it was so very hot, we always had a traditional Christmas Day. No picnics on the beach for us. I love the old ways I knew when I was a child!

We usually eat at 6 pm and I always do the ham the day before. I also have stuffing done in trays (two sorts) done in advance, frozen so ready for oven. I discovered frozen roast potatoes many years ago and they save fuss on the day too. We usually visited sis in law's in the morning along with rest of that side of family but in 2019 they came here so kitchen out of bounds til after 3 when they left. So another short cut was cooking the turkey breast joint on Christmas Eve. No one seems to notice! I am host again this year for the gang so will do it again. I pray the electric holds up what with all talk of energy problems. I remember as a child that the power would fade at critical hour.

Once the family was grown up if my husband and I were on our own, we treated ourselves to a piece of sirloin and had lovely roast beef and yorkshire pudding with lots of veg and roast potatoes. a much more festive meal for us as not bothered with turkey and the beef was much more of a treat for us. Now alone I have some duck breast in the freezer and it will be duck roast potatoes and veg with a decent glass of wine. I shall enjoy it and hope to see my son and family in the early part of new year

Book a meal at a restaurant! Family welcome to pop in during Christmas for a drink and a mince pie only!

Just the two of us; as always prawn cocktail starter, roast beef dinner and Christmas pudding.

We have a traditional dinner that is the same every year ( because it seems to go down a treat) Prawn Cocktail to start - Turkey, roast potatoes and parsnips, carrots, cauliflower, oatmeal stuffing, pigs in blankets and gravy. Pavlova or similar dessert, biscuits and cheese, coffee, mints and liquors. Some manage the lot - some fall by the wayside . We have it at about 4 o'clock and it is eaten over two or three hours with a lot of chat in between. To make it easier, somebody brings the starter, somebody the dessert and someone else the biscuits and cheese.

If I have my way, egg and chips.

I am a carbon copy of Witzend, so thank you W for confirming my programme.

It has been many years since I last cooked Christmas dinner, I always find someone to invite me lol

As far as I know there will be seven of us at my house. I do most of the cooking but two sons hover and help, especially with the gravy and bread sauce. Daughter doesn’t really cook. Before lunch there will be drinks and canapés from Waitrose. The menu will include Guinea fowl, stuffing balls, bread sauce, peas, carrots, roast potatoes and pigs in blanket. Christmas pudding with custard or brandy butter. The non-dried fruit eaters will have a selection of ice-cream. Basically a roast dinner with a few extras and crackers.

Shinamae I used to do community care, and always worked Christmas Eve and then Christmas day until about 2pm

Just the two of us this year, I'm looking forward to a peaceful day. No breakfast or starter for me otherwise I couldn’t manage lunch. We will have turkey leg with everything christmassy to go with it. I don't like breast meat. Christmas pudding with custard later in the afternoon. Lots of my favourite nibbles for the evening, including stollen and Baileys.
Shinamae I always covered the Christmas day shift when I was working so staff with children could have the day at home. It was a great atmosphere and lots of fun.

I'm 63, been married 42 years, have never made a Christmas dinner - my husband has always done it, until last year when Son2 made us all a beef curry. That was a really nice change. We might do something similar this year.

Smoked salmon as a starter, then roast pork this year with veg, pigs in blankets, sage and onion stuffing, roasties and Yorkshire pud, gravy made from the meat juices, followed by Christmas pudding and brandy sauce, then cheese & biscuits (if we’ve room 😁). We sit down fourish and get up again whenever we’re done!
The salmon is already in the freezer, the pud is made and the meat and trimmings on order with the butcher. I’ll make cranberry sauce in a couple of weeks and freeze it, and pre prepare the veg & trimmings the day before so it’s ready to go when we are.
So, my tips for minimum fuss on the day is to prepare as much of it beforehand as you can and either freeze or store in the fridge until needed on the day. Oh, and if you’ve got a slow cooker and are having Xmas pud, pop it in there to steam for 4 or so hours on low - saves making the kitchen steamy and you don’t need to worry about it boiling dry.

I would normally have a platter of seafood with fresh crusty bread and there is sufficient for two meals so I would start on Christmas Eve. The price has risen to £50 so it will stay on the shelf.

My duck in the sauce is in the freezer thanks to Waitrose so I only have to prepare the potatoes and vegetables of my choice. Again there is sufficient for two meals-sorted!

I am not a fan of Christmas pudding so a decent bottle of wine and hopefully TV will be watchable.

Cabbie