Chips & curry sauce....if only the chippy was open on xmas day!

Alas, they're too wise to the traditional fish & chips malarky, it's not going to wash with them. I'm in denial at the moment, but reality will hit on 1st December! Perth is looking good again.......

I 've had a 50%success rate there. Reported one guy as he was giving it large via PMs and he was banned (now resurfaced on PIO) and he was doing it to a few people.

Reported another post where someone advocated physical violence against me and nothing happened (quelle surprise!)

Oh, Kate must answer for herself but I'm sure that was a lighthearted post - come on - families and Christmas always means stress!

hi .. bored and reading thru the various posts.

cant believe you folks are already on about Christmas when we have to get through Halloween first... anyway, here is a thaught, albeit a little drastic.. convert to Judaism?? LOL

Seriously though, why not have a potluck? we are big on potlucks here but I dont remember it being so in the UK.. whatever you decide have fun and enjoy your family!

I was thinking about this last night Flea, why dont you split the responsibilities.

Delegate perhaps two adults to keep the kids out of the way and entertained. Do a treasure hunt or get some party games for the kids to keep them busy and make the kitchen and eating area out of bounds.

The rest of the adults could perhaps design a menu between you all - something you could all agree on that you like.

Treat your kitchen like a chefs kitchen and have someone on food prep, someone on cleaning, someone on cooking, starters, deserts etc.

Plan it out so everyone knows what they are doing. The people that are in charge of the kids, could it be possible that the kids are taken out for a bit to give you guys time to get organised.

That way after the kids have been fed, they would hopefully be tired after the mornings activities and after lunch, you could once again split the washing up duties - you do not want to have that to face later that evening and then you can all relax.

I will ask Mr PP for ideas about what to cook to see if he has any suggestions.

Hi Flea. I've just completed a successful 3 month stint in the UK and know where I need to be (not Australia!!!)
I am back in Australia to sort out my house and assets with my soon to be ex husband who incidentally found himself another woman while I was away, so all the more reason to get the hell out of Adelaide.....
Other than that, everything is good and I know what I need to do

hmmm, I really think this comment was made in jest, don't you? No real offence meant by poster, i am sure. Thats the problem with the wriitten word, it doesn't carry a tone, so the meaning can often be ambiguous.

Anyway re the meal, I have cooked for many more than this number for Christmas and other occasions, no big deal. In fact for Christmas its almost as uch work cooking for 2 as for 20. And I am not a brilliant cook by any means. BUT I make sure to delegate (everyone brings something) be relaxed myself (no-one really cares if food is late or not up to Gordon ramsey standard) and have lts of nice wine to accompany dinner. Everyone happy! The company is key, not the food. I would relax about the whole thing if I was you.

Get good and drunk!!!

Sorry this was meant for Fleaflyfloflum Get good and drunk!!![QUOTE=Fleaflyfloflum;7971290]You have just made me realise something. I am not sure about goose. Firstly my 2 son inlaws are the most boring foodies i have ever met. But i am not sure her oven would be big enough for large goose. Gawwwd, how do you break an arm with little pain?

French-Canadian traditional Christmas Eve dish is tortiere, which is a meat pie (beef, pork, and veal minced together preferably) with spicy seasoning like nutmeg, cinnamon etc. Probably medieval in origin, as they liked food like that. It's very tasty.

My family don't like roasts so I asked them years ago what they wanted and they all said pizza. They weren't joking. I make my own pizza anyway, so that's been the tradition, with a Christmasy design in green and red peppers.

Easy for me, and everyone's happy!

And yes, Flea. You be the Major General, and let them all do the cooking.

Bev -- in Whitby

Hi Bevm,

I see that you have arrived in Whitby !!!! hope that you like it,have you been to Robin Hoods Bay yet ?
Pleased also that you are still posting

Cheers I.G.

No offence Bev, but you must have the strangest family ever. Who doesn't like a roast

My FIL and his wife last year seemed determined not to enjoy Christmas, they always make a big thing of it, lots of socializing, cooking, gift buying...

Last year on a Skype call Kate told me 'I'm not buying any presents this year'. Then the following week, said 'I'm not cooking Christmas dinner we are going to have pizza' FIL looked very unhappy.

As soon as I disconnected the call I said to hubby, Kate is determined to have a miserable time and then she can blame it on not seeing their granddaughter. Sure enough, before the new year was here they called and said 'Christmas was miserable without Chloe can we come to you next year'

We are all so excited, can't wait until they get here

Did anyone miss me in here,

Been back almost a year now and really settled with all the reasons for leaving in the first place disappeared, funny thing is i aint been bored to death since i got back,

maybe cause my new venture www.xebay.co.uk

For anyone who remembers me, i hope you are all happy and content on where you all are at the moment and long may it last

John

John, never forgotten mate. Of course we remember you...you just never updated us
Glad all is good, i'm back too, thankgod great innit!

My BIL is a great cook and we pretty much always have Xmas at my sister's house (always for my parents and the last 4 yrs for me as I've always been home).

They mix it up quite a lot. One year they'll have full on traditional and because he works on the estate they always have extras and cold meats that people usually wouldn't buy (and he always gets a huge hamper from Fortnum and Mason from the estate owners ).

Other years he'll cook Chinese or Indian (all from scratch). He tried Vietnamese one year (I wasn't there, a bit less than sucessful apparently!). Last year when i was home they had a huge Chinese banquet but I couldn't eat it because I had the flu within 3 days of landing and spent a lot of time in bed.

Mum made up for it with a traditional turkey dinner on NYE which she was planning to do anyway. I quite like that approach as you get the best of both, a bit of variety and traditional, plus there's seems to be less 'pressure' on getting things right on NYE as there is on Xmas Day.