We have a traditional Christmas lunch with all the family, always at our house. We start with nibblies & a few pre-lunch beers, we then move on to a Prawn entree. Serve yourself & dish up as many as you like. We go through many kilos of fresh AUSTRALIAN Prawns. We usually drink a few Chardonnays or Rieslings with them. We don't rush courses.
Before serving up the main course we distribute the presents & open them.
We then move on slowly to the mains which are a very traditional roast Turkey, Pork & Lamb with roast spuds & vegies drizzled with gravy. Again serve yourself & have a much as you like. We sometimes have a Haggis as our Son-in-Law is Scottish. Plenty of Red wine from the Barossa Valley, Coonawarra & McLarenvale areas are drunk along with some Sparklies for the Ladies. Hick!
Much later we have a home-made boiled Christmas Pudding with Custard or Cream.
We then retire to a comfortable chair & watch the kids play with their new toys while the food settles.
After that we crack open some imported beers like Newcastle Brown Ale (England), Tennants (Scotland) & Guinness (Ireland) as well as different Aussie brews. These are drunk while playing Darts, Bochee or backyard games with the kids who by now are all having fights with the water pistols that we put in their Christmas stockings.
Dinner consists of serve yourself left overs. The survivors kick on till the wee small hours! No-one drives home, everyone sleeps at our place.
We hope yours is as good as ours!
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Cheers Desert Dweller.
Our land abounds in Natures gifts. Of beauty rich and rare.
DD ... Yours sounds like the traditional Aussie XMAS day of our generation that we all aspire too. I don't think that I can beat it.
We have a small family gathering of 10 at our place this year. Smallest for years. Unfortunately Son & his family are entertaining his in-laws extended family at his house this year. We will go there on boxing day for a re-run.
The hot Qld weather & flies won't be an issue as the entertaining area is air-conditioned & we have lots of spare bedrooms for sleep overs. It's all decorated & the music selected.
I have used up all my Qantas frequent flyer points to get Dan Murphy gift cards & spent >$350 on good(ish) quality XMAS booze including lots of sparkling & reds to augment my cellar.
I'll do my usual baked ham glazed with Maple syrup, bourbon, chinese 5 spice, star anise etc., and SWMBO will do a rolled Pork Loin, with her excellent crackling. We have ordered a rolled stuffed Turkey breast from our local butcher this year, so that'll be a cooking first. All the usual XMAS trimmings of course.
Daughter bringing heaps of crabs & prawns & seafood voula vents for starters & some French guests are sure to bring a range of French pastries.
Of course I expect to nod off around 3pm for a quick snooze.
Back on a rigid diet & exercise routine after New Year.
We got sick of all the heat and mucking around cooking food for the BIG day and about 8 years ago started trying out various Hotels in Perth.
We have settled on Miss Mauds and have been going there for the past 5 or so years. A HUGE spread which is constantly topped up (crays, prawns, oysters, bugs, various meats on the bone and veg, cold meats and salads and huge range of desserts.
Very relaxed and happy place for both us oldies and young familes with clowns and Santa with gifts for the kids (like me) and live music. Drinks are included (as much as you can drink) and all for $90 each. No forcing down turkey and ham for days after the 25th or looking at the trifle and pav slowly drying out or going soggy.
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Cheers Bruce
The amazing things you see when nomading Australia
Well, as it will more than likely be "Stinking hot" here in Perth,
We will be quiet happy, with some cold Chook and a small ham, inside away from the flies and under the Air-con,
Did anyone mention the Humidity," Yep " it's building up here, sure sign the weather will be ripe for the Cyclone Season, another reason not to have anything out-side over Xmas, great drinking weather though .
K.J.
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From Coast to Coast, We'll see it all.......One Day
The adult kids suggested "turkey Spam on toast" for Christmas lunch.
Their mother used to make such a fuss about "the lunch" that I think they are just over all the drama that goes with Christmas.
We have no little ones so a quiet lunch of ham & salad in the air-con will be the go.
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The government cannot give anything to anybody that the Government does not first take from somebody else.
Yes, in our climate in Australia, eating big stodgy Christmas dinners is not good for your health if you are elderly. Overloading the body with this type of food in hot weather increases body temperature and can be dangerous. A younger mate of mine who is an Ambulance Officer says he gets more call outs, to older people after they have eaten big Christmas dinners, than any other time of year. Better to stick to cold meats and salads unless it is snowing where you are.
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Yes I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
Breakfast at my parents (yes they are still alive). Bacon ham sausages eggs fruit and it's not Christmas if you don't have lollies before breakfast All the family come bro's sis nephews nieces etc
about 40 of us.
Lunch at my daughter's roast pork turkey baked ham vegies salad fruit pavlova Christmas pud custard ice-cream lollies crackers kids and grand kids.
Down to the beach after lunch to the sisters and a swim followed by a family bbq and a camp.
As all our married children will be at their in laws places we will be at home by ourselves this year for lunch but I will do all the trimmings. For tea we will be with all the family and if it's hot all will be in the pool. If weather permits it finishes up a pool party with everyone around or in the pool.
Just enjoy yourselves and don't overdo with food or drink.
The adult kids suggested "turkey Spam on toast" for Christmas lunch. Their mother used to make such a fuss about "the lunch" that I think they are just over all the drama that goes with Christmas. We have no little ones so a quiet lunch of ham & salad in the air-con will be the go.
Funny that you should mention Spam.
Since I noticed a young Asian student at our local supermarket with a trolley piled up with Spam, I often ask SWMBO if she would like me to pop in a tin or two. It always gets a reaction.
I might just slip one in one day just to see what it's like ... Turkey Spam perhaps ... I'll look closely on Friday (grocery day) just to see if there is such a thing.
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I think that I must be one of the Old School WRT XMAS lunch. I would prefer a hot traditional lunch (in the Aircon of course) but I am always over ruled & we have it all cold. Must say that it makes preparation much easier. My alcohol intake is much reduced these days so I have to skip all of the things like Sherries, Port & Liquers ... miss the beer too, except for a starter of an imported variety.
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One thing that I miss about work is the XMAS parties.
In the days when I was a Technician (circa 1970)at one depot we had a social club that was extremely successful and as a result had loads of money. A major expenditure was the XMAS party that we put on for all the Techs & Telephonists and Lineys who chose to drop in.
It included all the normal fare with mountains of seafood and legs of ham plus unlimited kegs of beer. Spirits if you wanted them, strangely no wine in those days.
A popular aspect was the free lucky door numbers all afternoon with prizes of bottles of spirits & XMAS hams. Free TAXIs were provided to get the revellers home. I'm sorry to say that I spent many a XMAS eve crashed out on the floor in front of the XMAS tree. Thankfully no kids in those days to witness the spectacle.
On the following XMAS day one year I was assigned to the passenger seat as we drove to my Brother's place to sleep it off before lunch. The lovingly crafted Pavlova was placed in a safe place on the front floor so it wouldn't slide about & get damaged. I was not very popular when we got to our destination to find that in my sleep I had crossed my legs over the pav & smashed it to smithereens. That story is re told every year when the Pav is served at our XMAS dinner. You'd think that they would forget and forgive after almost half a century.
They look great Troopy, we did notice quite a few vein clogging ingredients like Mayonnaise, Oil, Cheese etc. The only healthy SALAD is a green salad suitable for Rabbits. We don't know why those sorts of things are actually classed as a salad as many of them are extremely unhealthy & fattening. We class ourselves as retired ''elite athletes'', power walking for an hour every day, eating lots of fruit & vegetables while only enjoying a glass or two of wine two days per week. Personally I used to run over 100kms per week & I've ran seven Olympic distance marathons. I ran for an athletic club in the Victorian championships. We do enjoy our Christmas day though. Nice try, cheers Mate.
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Cheers Desert Dweller.
Our land abounds in Natures gifts. Of beauty rich and rare.
They look great Troopy, we did notice quite a few vein clogging ingredients like Mayonnaise, Oil, Cheese etc. The only healthy SALAD is a green salad suitable for Rabbits. We don't know why those sorts of things are actually classed as a salad as many of them are extremely unhealthy & fattening. We class ourselves as retired ''elite athletes'', power walking for an hour every day, eating lots of fruit & vegetables while only enjoying a glass or two of wine two days per week. Personally I used to run over 100kms per week & I've ran seven Olympic distance marathons. I ran for an athletic club in the Victorian championships. We do enjoy our Christmas day though. Nice try, cheers Mate.
Geez, don't tempt me...
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Yes I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
Christmas Day is at our home this year, sharing with our Daughter, her husband and the 4 Grandkids, youngest 6 then 10 followed by 15 and the oldest 19.
First off a big phone call to son in Austria will start the day, he will be enjoying Christmas eve at that time. He has reported that there been good snow falls over there, they will be out enjoying that snow boarding for next week before work calls them back to the office.
They will arrive late for lunch pretty well as they do, not known for being early, late getter uppers. Raid the lollies, knock the food table around a bit out though the back gate into the park Christmas Day Cricket match a big thing with the younger ones. I have mowed the wicket, it will be fast by mid afternoon it will be a dust bowl.
Ham, salards, a couple of speciality salards, roast pork, mixed beers and a collection of wines.
Dinner will be left overs and deserts, there is a pudding, custard, cream, ice cream, ice blocks. Bute! wave good bye, peace at last, can't wait to do it again next year.
