What are your Christmas Day lunch traditions? Photo: @monkeybusiness.
For some families, Christmas Day lunch is traditional roasts or dishes from their heritage, while for others it’s the ability to spice things up a little each year by introducing new and modern twists.
Some have big clans gather around long tables, while another might have a more quiet affair.
Really, there’s no right or wrong way to do Christmas lunch, but chances are it will likely result in the need for an afternoon nap for most.
Region Illawarra decided to take a look at their own Christmas Day lunch traditions over the years and how they’ve changed over time.
The Whites
Regardless of the temperature, Editor Jen White still continues a long tradition started by her father’s family of a hot Christmas lunch, albeit with a few modern twists.
“In those days, my grandmother, her sisters and her daughter would cook a hot, traditional roast Christmas lunch in a tiny, hot kitchen for up to 40, sometimes 50 people as the family grew,” Jen said.
“When the hosting honours were passed over to my uncle, the cooking process was refined.”
She said chooks, pork and turkey would be cooked on Christmas Eve, along with peeling the masses of potatoes, pumpkin and sweet potato which were cooked on the barbecue after presents were opened on Christmas Day.
“We continue to cook the veggies on the barbecue, not always with great success,” she said.
“The year oil caught fire on the barbie and we had to call in the firies will never be forgotten.”
While they’ve experimented with other meats – even a turducken once – dessert is always pavlova and trifle, which her mum made until handing over the duty to one of the grandsons in the past couple of years.
“Although lunch is usually served so late in the day that dessert becomes dinner,” she said.
The Davids
Childhood Christmas lunches always featured a mash-up of journalist Dione David’s Sri Lankan heritage and the traditional baked ham and salads affair.
“To an outsider, seeing my mother’s yellow rice with boiled eggs arranged in a festive pattern on her best platter and an assortment of curries and Sri Lankan short eats and trimmings might’ve seemed confusing,” Dione said.
“I guess it was our way of having what we knew we all really wanted – a rice and curry fix – but also not missing out on what we saw as the traditions of our new home country.”
She said growing up in Brisbane, this meant her mother slaved away in steamy subtropical climates for days in the lead-up.
As the job changed to her siblings, they opted to spend less time in the kitchen, with the results “almost as good” due to more quality time with family and accessing an abundance of delicious seasonal produce, like mangoes and cherries.
“And nobody is going to question the merits of a fresh, cool seafood platter, enjoyed with a glass of Prosecco on one of the hottest days of the Aussie year,” she said.
The Cartwrights
When journalist Zoe Cartwright was a kid, her granny and grandfather’s four children plus spouses and about a dozen grandkids would descend on the ancestral home (the farm) for Christmas lunch.
Zoe said all the women would make a few dishes each, with cold ham, chicken and prawns matched with a smorgasbord of potato bakes, salads, homemade dips and breads.
But the real hero of Christmas lunch was always dessert, with her gran, mum and aunties making at least one dessert each.
“Trifle, Christmas cake, pavlova and ice-cream Christmas cake were always on the table, plus occasional culinary forays into caramel pie, rocky road or chocolate mousse,” she said.
On Christmas morning, the kitchen was always packed with women putting the finishing touches on their dishes.
“Now the cousins are flung far and wide with kids of their own,” she said.
“We don’t often all come together – Granny and Grandfather usually go to the most populated house for Christmas lunch.
“Preparing the feast is still a group effort, but now with my generation of cooks there have been a few changes to the regular menu – I make a Yottam Ottolenghi salad, and pecan pie has been known to grace the dessert table.”
She said one of the nicest changes was that the cooking and the clean-up were no longer “women’s work”, with her brother and stepdad both solid contributors to the spread.
“Dessert is still the highlight of the day, and the best part of all is the traditional Boxing Day breakfast of leftover trifle, followed by traditional Boxing Day lunch of a leftover ham sandwich,” she said.
The O’Briens
Lunch for journalist Kellie O’Brien was always at one of the grandparents, who would never fail to cook the full traditional roast meal with turkey, pork, ham and endless baked veggies.
Then, on top was enough desserts of trifle, pavlova, Christmas pudding and brandy custard to see you full for a month.
“Although, the meal wasn’t to be started until all Christmas crackers were cracked, jokes told and hats placed on heads,” Kellie said.
That tradition has carried on.
“After marrying, the lunches changed as hubby’s six other siblings rotated hosting lunch each year, with each family choosing something slightly different to the last,” she said.
“With his parents, six siblings who were each married, and at least two or three kids per family, it was a mammoth affair.
“The year we hosted, we decided on a full seafood banquet, thinking that might be easier than the traditional roast. Apparently not.”
She said once they moved to Wollongong, with homesickness well and truly hitting that first year, they began a tradition with her hubby’s other NSW-based sibling to have lunch in Sydney with them.
“With different people having different dietary needs and a sister-in-law who’s a dab hand at hosting and catering, Christmas lunches are now an incredible affair of everything from a traditional honey roasted ham to a more modern vegan-friendly spinach cannelloni.”
She said after clean-up, there was always a board game pulled out to ensure brains were fully alert before the drive back to Shellharbour.
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