What will you have for Christmas dinner/lunch?

[Gemini]

Will it be turkey and all the trimmings followed by Christmas pud, or something different? Starters, nibbles or just straight into the main event?

We have turkey. OH would prefer something different, but my mum likes her traditional lunch (and so do I really) so Turkey it is. A crown as there are only 3 of us and we are out on Boxing Day.With all the usual accompaniments. Two things we have to have are mashed swede, my mums favourite, , and mashed potato, which is mine. We have a small starter of prawn and smoked salmon cocktail first. Christmas pudding to finish.
On Boxing Day we have a re run for all the family at DD2s. They don't have mash but do have beef or pork joint alongside the turkey, which OH appreciates

[Oma]

It depends what DD decides but it's usually Turkey and maybe beef , we always have a little starter last year she put a continental meat , pate, relish platter out but B can't have anything like that this year so she's thinking of a soup starter , Dinner is the full works all the trimmings and home made cranberry sauce etc , Pudding B usually makes something spectacular maybe a Black forrest Gateaux or a Profiterole, with home made chocolate sauce this year MR,s M&S will be providing the pudding 😊

[Mimi]

DIL has asked us what we would like as a choice of starter, I chose garlic mushrooms.I know she is cooking turkey as well as beef and I dare say she will go to Waitrose for sides and dessert , which we never have room for as she puts on a huge spread and we generally end up taking a 'doggie bag' home of puddings !

[Plantaholic]

We are eating out this year, very strange for us. We had a choice and as I have already had a turkey dinner, I have chosen duck. There will be eight of us, taxi booked

[aggie]

We are having roast beef

[Libra Gran]

The whole family are out to dinner with us including eldest DD's MIL as we couldn't have her alone as SIL is her only child. They each had a copy of the menu and made their choices. But Brian and I are having turkey, I am having cheese souffle to start hubs the soup.. Dessert for me is Christmas pud with brandy butter, hubs is having the Christmas crumble.. There is turkey, beef or pork on the menu with all the trimmings. .

[ZIZI]

We now have three guests which we didn't have a couple of days ago. Himself was a bit sniffy at first (even thiugh I ran it by him first) but now he is looking forward to it.. Our menu is turkey crown (which I already ordered when we were going to be on our own from my online butcher) but as neighbour's mother does not eat vegetables we are going to get a bacon joint as well. We will have pigs in blankets, sprouts, parsnips, honey roasted carrots, stuffing, cranberry etc. I do not personally much like turkey but husband has specifically requested it this year in lieu of the goose we really wanted which was horrendously expensive.

Our starter will be pate and Melba toast but we will have a Reserve for neighbour's mum who seems to be a bit fussy, not sure what it will be yet but I will find something. Dessert will be a choice of brioche bread and butter pudding and cream, custard or ice cream or creme brûlée. There will be a cheese board at the end.

I am going to use all my lovely white table linen and was going to make it VERY classy darlings but I was in town working today and saw some "different" crackers. Not my normal ones to match the tablecloth or crockery etc. My neighbour's boyfriend, who I have only briefly met, is a London black cab driver and these crackers have London black cabs and buses and tube trains all over them. Not terribly classy but I thought a bit of an ice breaker. He has never met husband so a but of humour injected or possibly REJECTED. I do hope not.

I have done table presents. Husband has to buy mine £6.50 limit. Neighbour and mum a trio of lip balms from M&S the other a duo of loccitaine hand creams. The "boys" have those new ladybird adult books. I have bought the granddad one for my husband and the neighbour's one for the boyfriend (as he is living in a flat and also owns the one upstairs and is not impressed with his tenant). I read both of them on the way home today and thought they were quite funny.

there is still a lot to be done as I don't stop working until the 23rd and I have my PDR on the 20th. BUT, boasting I know, I have been given an award for my work with the Ready for Work Programme by the BITC. It is lovely to get an award but unnecessary for something that I am passionate about, still nice though.

[Nanto2girls]

I bought a large turkey crown last week, when i had an Asda delivery.probably got one bigger than i ought to have.
Hubby asked if we could have something different this year. When i asked what would you like,he said i don't know.
i might end up doing beef and pork.

[Plantaholic]

Sounds lovely Zizi, you don't do things by half. Congratulations on award

[Daisy]

As I mentioned somewhere else, I have the luxury of not doing Christmas dinner this year, so I really don't know, except that there will be a fresh fruit salad for one of the desserts (because I've been asked to make it - mainly for oH who isn't fussed about desserts in general.) But it does mean I won't have leftovers for Boxing Day So I'm thinking about doing a leg of lamb for Christmas Eve, and then I'll do beef and ham for the 27th when the family come round. But with 20 or so of us, I'm doing salads etc to go with the meat. Trying to do a roast dinner for that many is beyond me! There's be mince pies, chocolate log, Christmas cake and possibly apple pie for afters, plus a nice big cheese board.

Zizi - I always like to set the table with my best white tablecloth, plain white Wedgwood china, crystal glasses and the silver (it's only silver plate though!) I really enjoy making the table look good - it's much more fun than cooking!!!

Nanto - I often fancy something other than pork, but OH isn't keen on goose or duck, and we have beef, pork etc the rest of the year. I'd like like to have venison, but OH thinks I'm mad!

[Oma]

Daisy that brings memories back from 1980 , my uncle said that year I will buy the Christmas meat for you , He bought both us and my sister (who lived next door to me ) a enormous Goose each . Well neither of us new how to cook Goose we had never even tasted one then , it was a complete disaster my Sister kept running into mine asking what mine looked like , did I think it was cooked , should it look like that . Well mine was so over done it was inedible and she gave up on hers and took it out of the oven and binned it , so that Christmas dinner was Mince I luckily had in freezer , I cooked a huge batch for both families, strangely the kids loved it so it wasn't all lost , we still say now remember the Goose Christmas if anything goes wrong 😀

[Gemini]

LOL Oma. Things could only get better after that

[Daisy]

Oma - that made me laugh out loud!

The first christmas we were married I decided to do a 'posh' stuffing for the turkey. I followed the instructions to the letter, carefully placing it in a separate dish as instructed. What the recipe omitted was 'now put it in the oven and cook it'!!!! I didn't know I was supposed to cook it and the recipe was obviously aimed at someone with more culinary knowledge than me!

[ZIZI]

Daisy that reminds me of a story my husband tells about his first wife (who was not a good cook by any means and according to the boys still isn't). He went home from work just after they got married to fund a salad......... Under the grill. She wanted to keep it fresh! True story!

[Plantaholic]

Our local doctors wife who also our Guide Commissioner said when she was buying food for her first Christmas after they married, she bought beef mince to make mince pies.