Christmas Dinner: Traditional vs Not-so-traditional

[Vanillaphant]

Hello, hello.

Just wondering what sort of a Christmas dinner people prefer. Do you like a traditional sort of affair - which I suppose for most people here would consist of turkey, stuffing and almost every root vegetable you can think of lol - or do you like to change things up a bit? Maybe you have your own traditions, things that you feel really make a Christmas dinner, elements that you like to be cooked a certain way... etc.

I kinda fall into the "beggars can't be choosers" camp: as long as I'm not cooking it, I'll take what I can get! lol Ironically, though, if I did get my own way, Christmas dinner would be a much more straightforward affair. Ideally, it'd be something simple, comforting, and with plenty of steam coming off it. Like a pie. Any kind of savoury pie lol. I suppose I'm a less is more kinda guy!

Anyone? 🙂

 

[Sensualswitch10]

I prefer a nice traditional dinner, but in my family copious amounts of alcohol are part of any celebration.

 

[Vanillaphant]

in my family copious amounts of alcohol are part of any celebration.

There are other kinds of families? 😛

 

[EBunbury]

I love my family's traditional Christmas dinner, with roast turkey or ham, cornbread dressing, candied yams, cranberry salad, and pumpkin pie. When I moved away from home, I did roast goose a couple years, which was great, since there's a beautiful rendered fat from which to make soap. I'd like to try my hand at a Christmas pudding.

 

[rdhd]

Frozen, microwavable dinners. Seriously, have to have both ham and turkey (wife and our autistic-spectrum daughter, each likes different), stuffing, mashed taters, gravy, green bean casserole, craaannnbberrrry saauuuuce (sorry, thinking of a Beatles song there - 10 points if you get it) .

 

[wolfman40]

I went for a traditional work Christmas meal last night, it was horrible!

I think the Japanese have it best, they go and get KFC 🙂

 

[MoJoe2014]

I don't celebrate the holiday. So many times my Christmas dinner is celebrated at a Chinese restaurant LOL.

 

[Vanillaphant]

craaannnbberrrry saauuuuce (sorry, thinking of a Beatles song there - 10 points if you get it) .

You Never Give Me Your Turkey? Cranberry Fields Forever? lol

 

[rdhd]

No, at the end of "A Day in the Life" (the last song on Sgt Pepper's ). At the very end end of the song - you have to turn up the volume to hear it. Was the source of the famed phrase "I buried Paul".

 

[Bugman]

I don't celebrate the holiday.

Same here. Never liked turkey much anyway. Given the weather forecast for that weekend I'll probably make a big pot of chili and watch the NFL games.

 

[Vanillaphant]

No, at the end of "A Day in the Life" (the last song on Sgt Pepper's ). At the very end end of the song - you have to turn up the volume to hear it. Was the source of the famed phrase "I buried Paul".

Ah OK. I'd heard of the "Paul is dead" conspiracy theory, but not the cranberry sauce thing! Though having looked it up just now, it seems that the quote is associated with Strawberry Fields Forever. So I sort of guessed right! lol Gotta be worth five points, surely? 😀

 

[rdhd]

Vanilla - you're correct. I be gettin' old, the memory circuits are starting to fry. I'll give ya the full 10 points.

 

[teamtickleguy]

I think Christmas is an excuse to be indulgent and decadent and therefore a good excuse to have stuff you wouldn't normally have.

I do like to have traditional turkey at least once (usually at either my work Xmas party or one of my badminton club Xmas parties), but once is enough, so try to have lamb at least once and the Christmas Day with the family is usually a venison/duck/goose/pheasant etc - still with the traditional extras though - stuffing, Yorkshire pudding, pigs in blankets, sprouts, copious amounts of gravy. Gammon. It's my turn to cook this year too...!

Drinks-wise, I've got various miniature gins (flavours include Rhubarb & Ginger, Quince, Sloe and some sort of Oriental spiced gin).

I'm always interested in those who like to go and eat out at a restaurant on Christmas Day - it's something that's never appealed to me, but I can understand how it works for others.

Fish is an interesting one - I couldn't have fish as the main dish, but my god I could eat Smoked Salmon until the cows come home.

 

[Vanillaphant]

the Christmas Day with the family is usually a venison/duck/goose/pheasant etc

I assume you mean one of those things...? All four would be extremely decadent! Having said that, if you were just having duck, it'd have to be one heckuva size! lol (assuming there were more than, say, four of you).

I'm always interested in those who like to go and eat out at a restaurant on Christmas Day - it's something that's never appealed to me, but I can understand how it works for others.

Never had Christmas dinner in a restaurant. Got nothing against the idea myself, it's just never happened. Think restaurants tend to charge silly prices, though. Which is understandable, I suppose.

 

[teamtickleguy]

I assume you mean one of those things...? All four would be extremely decadent! Having said that, if you were just having duck, it'd have to be one heckuva size! lol (assuming there were more than, say, four of you).

haha yes just the one! And it is indeed duck this year and we have two ducks. I'm not sure if ducks mate for life, but it seemed nice to have two and not separate them.

 

[Tenebrae]

I don't celebrate the holiday. So many times my Christmas dinner is celebrated at a Chinese restaurant LOL.

Since I live in China, I eat Chinese all year long, but this year I went to have a Christmas dinner at a Canadian friend's place, and he cooked a wonderful turkey for us. So I actually sort of also had an exotic dinner, haha 😀

To the OP: I am a very traditional kind of guy. I love rituals and routine. But the fun thing about tradition is that they can be broken once in a while, and it feels all the better 😉

 

[paracarl44]

One thing that I eat at this time of the year is mince meat pie.

 

[BlasterMaster]

My family and myself have a mash potatoes, stuffing, crescent rolls, and of course pie for desert.

The only think we don't have is turkey. We all hate it for barely having any taste so instead we have a well cooked ham. 😀

 

[teamtickleguy]

My family and myself have a mash potatoes, stuffing, crescent rolls, and of course pie for desert.

The only think we don't have is turkey. We all hate it for barely having any taste so instead we have a well cooked ham. 😀

Yes, turkey can be so disappointing and so easy to cook dry. What are crescent rolls?

 

[chicago]

My family and myself have a mash potatoes, stuffing, crescent rolls, and of course pie for desert.

The only think we don't have is turkey. We all hate it for barely having any taste so instead we have a well cooked ham. 😀

Throw a vegetable in the mix, damn lol

 

[BlasterMaster]

Throw a vegetable in the mix, damn lol.

The multiple stuffings have many vegetables in them Chicago hun. 😉

We do have corn and broccoli though as well. ^_^

What are crescent rolls?

Pillsbury crescent rolls dude. ^^

 

[S1]

Lasagne on Christmas and fish on Christmas Eve like a good Italian family.

 

[Vanillaphant]

Lasagne on Christmas

I could get on board with that.

"La-sa-gne in ex-ceeeel-sis!"

^ Very early contender for Worst Pun of 2018...? lol

 

[paracarl44]

Have to have some cranberries this time of the year.