Tricks for a successful Christmas: Part Two: The Food

For most of the year I am happy that I live in Australia, especially on a day like today when I can sit out in my yard with my laptop and watch the kids play on the grass, having fun under the blue sky and summer sun. But on Christmas day, well, the week after really, I have to admit that I get really jealous of people who celebrate Christmas in the winter. It's not for the snow – I don't particularly like being cold – it's for the winter clothing. You see, I eat too much at this time of year, way too much, and then decide that since it's hot and everyone else is, I should head down to the beach for a swim. But upon arriving at the beach I realise that all of the delicious food I ate too much of has now made it's way to my thighs and belly, where it intends to stay for the rest of the swimming season no matter how hard I try to convince it to leave and not return until winter when I actually need the insulation.



Actually, that year I had a decent excuse for the size of my belly...



So at times like these that I wish I lived in the Northern Hemisphere, so that I could eat whatever I wanted at Christmas without having to worry about anyone seeing the inevitable bulge. This is the first problem I have with the food at Christmas. The second is that I actually find doing a lot of cooking to be quite stressful, especially when presentation is important and when it has to be in the oven at a particular time of the morning in order to be ready four hours later and so on.



The fanciest dessert I've ever helped to make.



And that's why this post is about what I've learned to minimise the stress of cooking and food this silly season.

First and most importantly: Get someone else to do the cooking!

This is easiest when you are going to someone else's house for Christmas day because I don't know many people who would be willing to come to my house and cook up a full Chrissy lunch for me. So, get yourself invited somewhere. This is one of the great reasons we have parents and in-laws and grandparents too, to ensure that the culinary challenged in the world can at least finish the year with a decent meal.

Culinary challenged little brother.

If Christmas lunch is going to be at your house and there's nothing you can do about it, organise for everyone to bring something, salad or dessert or side dish so that at least you don't have to do everything (if you're going to someone else's house it's nice to offer to bring something too, to take a little stress from the shoulders of your host and their kitchen). If you go this path though, do it properly, you don't want to be like the king who didn't plan his picnic and was then surprised when everyone brought potato salad. Write a list of the food that you want to serve and then divide it among those coming. Do this in plenty of time and send people reminders so that they have plenty of time to get their ingredients and do their little bit of cooking.

Sharing the load means that stress is evenly distributed on Christmas day and may even prevent any custard related drownings and injuries from turkey leg duels.

Second and nearly as importantly: Decide where you stand on tradition.

I mean, how important is turkey? Really? If you can live without a turkey then I encourage you, do. I actually do like turkey but the logistics of fitting the thing in the fridge and then in the oven and then trying to make sure that it cooks evenly and in time for lunch as well as trying to cook everything around it... I'm afraid that fills me with dread. I have also found that on particularly hot Christmas days I don't really feel like an enormous cooked bird.

Our family has embraced the Australian tradition of a seafood lunch.

Oysters, prawn cocktails, crayfish, crab, baked salmon, and lots of delicious salad. The cooking time is almost nil, it's light (which helps solve my beach dilemma), and while it seems expensive when it's sp;it between the whole family it's surprisingly affordable.

Probably the most important thing to keep in mind when going the seafood route is to ensure that you have top notch refrigeration. No one wants to end Christmas day with the taste of bad oysters in their mouth.

Thirdly and finally: How much food do you really need?



The Christmas Biscuits.

 Yes, extravagance is fun, yes, leftovers are fun, but could the twenty dollars spent on food which never even made it out of the pantry on the day have been better spent? I don't mean spent on even more presents or alcohol, but on food for those who don't even have the option of an extravagant Christmas. Sorry to get serious but there are so many people in this country for whom Christmas dinner is a tin of tuna or a trip to Maccas. The gift of food doesn't just help people feel like their Christmas day has been special, it can help them feel more connected to their wider community too.

You can even go a step further if you like and, in the right circumstances, invite a person or family over to celebrate Christmas lunch with you. My grandparents are doing it this year and my parents and in-laws have done it in years past.

Trust me when I type that it will enrich your Christmas experience, mean less food wastage and, in my case, put beach related body hang-ups back in perspective.

So basically, when it comes to the kitchen this Chrissy, share the load, reduce the amount of actual cooking, and remember that this holiday is about celebrating, sharing, loving and reconnecting with the people around us, not about the amount of food we actually put on the table.

Oh, and to reduce the stress over the resulting bulge: eat less and wear board shorts to the beach! They are both flattering and practical in hiding post- Christmas thighs.

Ta!

Every Christmas cake should be required to have a dinosaur on top.