What do you do for Christmas dinner?

Peartree

Forgot to mention that I DO NOT do any shopping on Xmas eve or as far before as I can get away with vis a vis fesh veg. I am also paranoid about 'ordering' and it not turning up. If I'm doing turkey, I buy good quality local fresh a couple of weeks ahead. I usually get a crown and plaster it with butter, get a whole pile of thyme (and whatever else is still alive in the garden) and seal it all up in a plastic bag and freeze. If we have beef, I plaster it with mustard and herbs and then freeze.

piglet6

Peartree wrote: »

Usual trimmings and stuff but as we're Irish there's always a ham, there's always cabbage somewhere and there always my Granny's stuffing of mashed potato, bacon and leeks (alongside the more traditional sausagey stuffing).

...

Some years ago we would all stay over the night before at my late sister's house and do Xmas there. For breakfast I did 'breakfast mini kebabs', boiled quails eggs, little rolls of bacon and cocktail sausages together on a cocktail sticks (she cooked the dinner so I had time to faff with breakfast!). Went down very well and can be eaten with one hand whilst the other is present opening!

Peartree, those kebabs sound lovely - will definitely be giving them a go at some point...

And probably a daft question, but do you do anything special with the mashed potato, bacon and leeks to make your Granny's stuffing? This three ingredients are three of my favourites, so I'm sure I would love the result...

Many thanks!

Piglet
x

Butterfly_Brain

Peartree wrote: »

Forgot to mention that I DO NOT do any shopping on Xmas eve or as far before as I can get away with vis a vis fesh veg. I am also paranoid about 'ordering' and it not turning up. If I'm doing turkey, I buy good quality local fresh a couple of weeks ahead. I usually get a crown and plaster it with butter, get a whole pile of thyme (and whatever else is still alive in the garden) and seal it all up in a plastic bag and freeze. If we have beef, I plaster it with mustard and herbs and then freeze.

Our local greengrocer is brilliant! :A I just give him a list two weeks before so that is ready for collection on Christmas Eve - he delivers as well and has offered to deliver to me because I cant walk very well, he does make the point that he delivers to all his pensioner and disabled customers first.
That is what I call service above and beyond the call of duty

Jessilu

Haven't had time to read through the whole thread so apologies if someone has done the same.

I divorced when my daughter was just 8 years old, and raised her myself . We never went to anyone or had people here on Xmas day, instead choosing to have visitors on boxing day instead, so we could have our own special day together alone!

For Xmas dinner, I made a pledge to her that as we could have any of the traditional stuff on any Sunday of the year, (plus money was tight I admit) then Xmas day we'd have something very special, and that would be that we could choose ''within reason'' any combination of food she liked.

For example we had Xmas lunches made up of Banana, oranges, cherries, & chips, with Sorbet & angel delight for dessert, or Tinned Crab with Baked beans & cabbage, with meringue & smarties and yoghurt to follow.

Not for the faint hearted I grant you lol....but you get the idea, Christmas was made a little different for my daughter because she could have food that was ''special'' for one day!:D

marmalize

well as i work in palliative care i have to work the holidays..or rather for the last ten years i have ..and in between shifts i have managed with the help of mom to prep,cook and serve a completely homemade Christmas lunch for about 9 people each year...sometimes depending on shifts i have actually served up lunch and had to rush off without any myself ...however this year i have a long weekend coinciding with the Christmas break and am taking parents to my sisters house for the holiday...it should be interesting as normally she would buy the whole lot from M&S (even ready peeled sprouts and potatoes...yes really) but as she knows mom would disapprove she is going to attempt to prep and cook herself..
mmmm...just realised she has asked me to get there early on Christmas day:eek: ...it will probably be more work than normal:D
anyway we will be having turkey and roast pork with all the usual trimmings....boxing day will be leftovers(squeaked) plus a gammon joint with pickles and chips(a family tradition)
I shall make a 'bruce bogtrotter' chocolate cake and homemade choc truffles for desert...oh and of course Eton mess....:j

BilberryCharlotte

Confuzzled wrote: »

i once lived in a sheep infested area where the crofters never bothered to keep their sheep properly fenced in and had a lot of damage to my car on several occasions due to sheep suddenly headbutting it as i tried to ever so slowly creep by them on the one track roads (after having waited for up to 15 minutes for them to get out of the damned road!) needless to say after the last event where one had acted like it was moving away from me then decided to headbutt my GLASS headlamp (which cost me more than 100 quid to get replaced and fitted) i soon took up my (now) ex husbands moniker for them... wooley maggots!

i also started walking past the lambs in spring and baaing at them then licking my lips and telling them how tasty they will be in few months... MUAHAHAHAHA :rotfl:

childish? probably, but it did make me feel a little better

Nothing like a bit of childish fun now and again! and you have certainly made me laugh on a day when laughs are much needed.

It can be difficult to keep some sheep in, Derbyshire Gritstones leap over most walls and fences, and sheep are very sociable animals. Sorry about the damage incurred whilst being courteous to that ungrateful sheep, at least you are entitled to take the moral high ground though. Seasons bleatings to you. :rotfl:

marmalize

Confuzzled wrote: »

i once lived in a sheep infested area where the crofters never bothered to keep their sheep properly fenced in and had a lot of damage to my car on several occasions due to sheep suddenly headbutting it as i tried to ever so slowly creep by them on the one track roads (after having waited for up to 15 minutes for them to get out of the damned road!) needless to say after the last event where one had acted like it was moving away from me then decided to headbutt my GLASS headlamp (which cost me more than 100 quid to get replaced and fitted) i soon took up my (now) ex husbands moniker for them... wooley maggots!

i also started walking past the lambs in spring and baaing at them then licking my lips and telling them how tasty they will be in few months... MUAHAHAHAHA :rotfl:

childish? probably, but it did make me feel a little better

...you are not alone....i always bark madly when passing sheep:eek:sometimes also yelling 'come by'...and..'away' at the same time ....this is all well and good when with friends or family ..but i once did it when driving with a boyfriend:eek:.......i am now single

ALIBOBSY

BilberryCharlotte wrote: »

Whilst you are thinking how lovely these new born lambs are, do you ever feel like whispering to them that they might be on your plate within a few months?

Well I have to say having grown up with alot of friends who were farmers and living in a semi rural area I actually have no problem with seeing them as "dinner" down the line, although not sure I would whisper it over the fence lol.
I am concerned with how well they are treated during their lives as with any other meat, but if you eat meat you should face the reality that it was once alive and didn't just come shrink wrapped from the supermarket.

ali x

ALIBOBSY

I prefer to do as much prep as possible before hand, mince pies and most baked goods freeze beautifully, as does fresh homemade custard (for trifles or hot over a pud). Some people freeze mash but I prefer fresh.

I peel and freeze the parsnips ready to just cook in hot oil from frozen in the oven on the day, same for pigs in blankets. The roasties is a few of the "mash" spuds pulled out when it has boiled for a couple of mins to start them off. Veggies go in the steamer, easy peasy.

How about this for those worried about starters try spreading it out, we have a sort of brunch or starter cousre around 11 , followed by the main event mid afternoon, whenever it and we are ready. Usually around 3-4.
We might sneak in a bit of supper at around 7 or 8 but only butties or leftovers. Kids will munch all day on chocolate/cake/puddings anyway so the times are flexible.

Merry Christmas

ali x

BilberryCharlotte

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

Well I have to say having grown up with alot of friends who were farmers and living in a semi rural area I actually have no problem with seeing them as "dinner" down the line, although not sure I would whisper it over the fence lol.
I am concerned with how well they are treated during their lives as with any other meat, but if you eat meat you should face the reality that it was once alive and didn't just come shrink wrapped from the supermarket.

ali x

I don`t eat meat any longer, although I did for years with being from a family who thought cheese dishes were mainly snack or supper dishes and fish was for invalids! We always had free range meat though.

I gave meat up gradually, the kids would only really eat chicken anyway, but I always cooked a variety of meat for Christmas and Boxing Day. I woke up one Boxing Day morning and realised that all this lovely meat meant some poor animal had died to provide it. That was sort of an epiphany for me (a bit of an early one) and we are now vegan and really happy to be so. :-)