Preparations

[french frank]

I think Quentin Crisp, that maestro of the solitary Christmas, got it just about right.

From the point of view of food, it's very handy to eat out with family over Christmas: you can have all the delights of homemade pudding, cake &c, but only have to eat it for two days in the quantities you ask for. No pudding/cake/turkey/chocolates hanging around for weeks. Complan, though, mon dieu! ...

[amateur51]

From the point of view of food, it's very handy to eat out with family over Christmas: you can have all the delights of homemade pudding, cake &c, but only have to eat it for two days in the quantities you ask for. No pudding/cake/turkey/chocolates hanging around for weeks. Complan, though, mon dieu! ...

Agreed but we do have to cut the old boy some slack here ... he wa, after all. one of the last professional eccentrics

[Anna]

Initially I was surprised that S_A, being 98% vegetarian goes for the traditional turkey dinner but it does need to be something you don't eat on the other 364 days of the year. Personally, on my own, I'd go for an expensive luxury indulgence, i.e., fillet of beef, (or beef Wellington ) maybe rack of lamb, (guard of honour) etc., followed by a super selection of cheeses. I cannot however think of what would constitute a luxury dish for a vegetarian?
As yet I have done no preparation whatsoever apart from mailing some cards overseas.

[Flosshilde]

Agreed but we do have to cut the old boy some slack here ... he wa, after all. one of the last professional eccentrics

& he could provide his own queen's speech

[Nick Armstrong]

& he could provide his own queen's speech

[MrGongGong]

& he could provide his own queen's speech

Didn't he do that once ?
or maybe I have false memory syndrome ?

[Flosshilde]

Yes, he did, although it wasn't his own private speech - he shared it with the rest of us via Channel 4.

[Resurrection Man]

What's Christmas?

I loathe it with a vengeance. All that false bonhomie. Those cards from people you've had zero contact with throughout the entire year. With the printout if the year's 'news'. Interminable "CFC" adverts on the TV.

Best Christmas ever was spent holed up inside a Norwegian pension located high up in one of their nature reserves...reading cover-to-cover the latest Iain Banks novel. Nary a cracker in sight. Bliss.

[Ferretfancy]

My best ever Christmas lunch was at the Windamere Hotel Darjeeling ( that's how they spell it ) in 1984, presided over by a nice Tibetan lady whose deceased husband started the tradition back in 1950

All the British ex-pats and tourists in town assembled there, and we had a complete traditional meal, with mulligatawny soup, roast goose and all the trimmings, pudding and mince pies, lashings of booze, crackers, the lot. Our hostess wore a lovely Tibetan costume and presided at the head of the table. At the end of the meal, song sheets were passed round and we sang "Que sera sera ! " and other fifties songs before adjourning to the bar and a blazing fire, where a young Aussie girl pounded out more favourites at the.piano.
Naturally there was a group photograph , and an album to admire with all the previous Christmases included.

Dickens would have loved it. By the way, it's very cold in Darjeeling at 7000 ft, but we did glimpse Kanchenjunga

[salymap]

I still have to get my cards, though the stamps are ready and waiting: I'll probably give Tate Modern a visit tomorrow. The ex-gf and I usually exchange calendars, but last year she asked, "Why do you always send a bloody calendar? I get so many they come out of my ears!" - though she always sends me one, for which I am genuinely grateful. Last year I couldn't decide on an alternative. "Oh never mind, don't worry" she told me, "I hate receiving presents anyway 'cos I've got everything I'll ever want in life". It's a problem knowing what to get when you're on your jack, but I actually prefer being my own solitary nag on the day of all days when we are supposed to rejoice and enjoy our families, if we have them. I'd probably be terrible company.

The last 2 years I've treated myself to one of St Spree's Christmas-Meal-For-One packages, consisting of three slices of turkey breast swimming in a tablespoon of oxo gravy, two chipolatas, two stooks of presumably sage and onion stuffing, four small roast potatoes, four sprouts, a tablespoon of peas and a ditto each of baby carrots and bread sauce - all ready to put in the microwave, to be dished up with cranberry sauce which will serve as jam for the next month, downed with a couple of glasses of house hock, and followed up with one of the pair of xmas puds accompanied by custard. But the combination has never settled on my stomach, used as it is to mainly vegetarian input, so I shall get some turkey fillets in breadcrumbs and fry them instead for my main course this year.

I shall dig out all my recorded Christmas music, pile it up beside the sound system, hope the ex-gf is too busy to ring, and snooze the afternoon away.

There's probably nothing much worth watching on telly in the evening, so I'll induge in some of my favourite movies.

Another solo dinner on the 25th S-A and I was positive that Sainsbury's meal would be better than the Co-op's, the only big supermarket I can walk to. Local cousins adore their food but it sounda about the same I was invited in the past but I can't sit round the table chatting when my back feels ready to break.
Better that they drop in,wnhich they will, and we make our own plans for the day.

[Anna]

What's Christmas? I loathe it with a vengeance. All that false bonhomie. Those cards from people you've had zero contact with throughout the entire year. With the printout if the year's 'news'. Interminable "CFC" adverts on the TV.
Best Christmas ever was spent holed up inside a Norwegian pension located high up in one of their nature reserves...reading cover-to-cover the latest Iain Banks novel. Nary a cracker in sight. Bliss.

I guess Christmas is the one time of year that we try to show Goodwill to All Men .... although I too loathe all the falseness and greed.
Best Christmas I had was some years ago. A relationship had finally come to a traumatic end on 5th December, obviously I was in no mood for any festivities. I completely blanked it all out and hid myself away, my Christmas dinner was chicken tikka masala, pilau rice, onion bhajis courtesy of Waitrose and the microwave, Casablanca was on the tv and I cried my way through that and another film and I think Dr. Who, and suddenly realised, compared to the hell of the previous Christmas, I was enjoying myself - and free at last! It was quite liberating.
Since then, if I have to spend Christmas on my own, I have no fears and I've then never gone overboard and bought into the OTT consumerism as I used to.
Ferretfancy: Your Christmas in Darjeeling sounds fabulous!
Edit:

Another solo dinner on the 25th S-A and I was positive that Sainsbury's meal would be better than the Co-op's, the only big supermarket I can walk to. Local cousins adore their food but it sounda about the same I was invited in the past but I can't sit round the table chatting when my back feels ready to break.
Better that they drop in,wnhich they will, and we make our own plans for the day.

Saly, I hadn't seen yours when I posted the above. Why not, instead of a supermarket micro make something you really like, such as your delicious sounding braised beef, in advance and freeze it and splash out on a really good red wine and a starter? I'm a great believer in just pleasing yourself when it comes to food and blow tradition!

[EdgeleyRob]

How are we all doing with our Christmas preparations?

Not sure,I'll check with my wife.

Just checked,we are prepared apparently.

[salymap]

I guess Christmas is the one time of year that we try to show Goodwill to All Men .... although I too loathe all the falseness and greed.
Best Christmas I had was some years ago. A relationship had finally come to a traumatic end on 5th December, obviously I was in no mood for any festivities. I completely blanked it all out and hid myself away, my Christmas dinner was chicken tikka masala, pilau rice, onion bhajis courtesy of Waitrose and the microwave, Casablanca was on the tv and I cried my way through that and another film and I think Dr. Who, and suddenly realised, compared to the hell of the previous Christmas, I was enjoying myself - and free at last! It was quite liberating.
Since then, if I have to spend Christmas on my own, I have no fears and I've then never gone overboard and bought into the OTT consumerism as I used to.
Ferretfancy: Your Christmas in Darjeeling sounds fabulous!
Edit:
Saly, I hadn't seen yours when I posted the above. Why not, instead of a supermarket micro make something you really like, such as your delicious sounding braised beef, in advance and freeze it and splash out on a really good red wine and a starter? I'm a great believer in just pleasing yourself when it comes to food and blow tradition!

Funny you should say that Anna, I had some braised steak this week and after two days, putremainder in the freezer HoweverI thought some chicken or turkey on the day would be a change. Local Co-op have some very small chooks but would like something for a change, turkey. I wonder whether anyone sells cooked turkey slices. That ready meal doesn't sound much.

[vinteuil]

... I find I don't get terribly worked up about Christmas - neither positively nor negatively. I've had nice Christmas meals en famille, à deux, or solo - in London, Douala, Constantine, Riyadh, Bombay, New Delhi, Kuala Lumpur, Suva, Madrid, Paris. As long as you can get some interesting food (not necessarily "Christmassy"), some decent wine, some good music - it's only one day in the calendar - enjoy it - life continues thereafter, y'know...

[Anna]

That ready meal doesn't sound much.

Personally saly - I wouldn't give it house room! For me turkey is a no-go area, I'd rather have a chicken and thighs are really nice as they have the bone, breasts are boring and tend to be dry and tasteless.
As for treats, I confess for a starter I do love old fashioned prawn cocktail with Mare-Rose sauce!

... I find I don't get terribly worked up about Christmas - neither positively nor negatively. I've had nice Christmas meals en famille, à deux, or solo - in London, Douala, Constantine, Riyadh, Bombay, New Delhi, Kuala Lumpur, Suva, Madrid, Paris. As long as you can get some interesting food (not necessarily "Christmassy"), some decent wine, some good music - it's only one day in the calendar - enjoy it - life continues thereafter, y'know...

Exactly vints, please yourself, we are in accord. It's only one day, enjoy in your own way!