When to start planning for X-Mas?

[CrystalWriter]

I'm asking because on Monday I picked up Good Housekeeping Christmas 2013 magazine, which contains a lot of very nice recipes.

My family already thinks I'm nuts as I've just finished a deep clean of the kitchen.

So is end of Oct, beginning of Nov. Too early to think about it? but considering a small number of the recipes can be made in advance.

[Andy M.]

I'm still planning for Halloween. Then comes Thanksgiving. AFTER THANKSGIVING is when you start planning for Christmas. It's the law.

[menumaker]

After bonfire night ( Nov 5th ) is my rule of thumb, except for my cake which I made last week because it needs feeding and the puddings that need maturing until Christmas.

[Gravy Queen]

I have already made my Damson chutney and that is maturing, it matures at Christmas then it is perfect with old meats and cheeses .

I have ordered my turkey , ham and a 3 bird roast , stuffing and sausages in bacon from Marks and Spencer .

[forty_caliber]

Ugggg. The dreaded holiday. Usually don't do much till the 2nd week in December. I try to keep the fuss to a bare minimum and set financial limits for the household. I really dislike the heavy marketing and commercialism that goes hand and hand with the "holidays" these days.

.40

[Alix]

Only 55 more sleeps! Plan away!

.40, are you a Grinch? Perish the thought!

I don't plan much for the meals, but I do require a little advance planning on the gift buying and entertainment part of the holidays. I am grateful that our Thanksgiving isn't at the same time as yours, I think that would be too close for me.

[forty_caliber]

Originally Posted by Alix

.40, are you a Grinch? Perish the thought!

I was promoted to Grinch Officer 1st class and now I have grinch minions to carry out my grinchly duties.

It's not Christmas that I mind. It's the buy buy buy buy sell sell sell sell mentality that really winds me up.

For me the holidays are not about "stuff" or the need for more "stuff".
We will be baking cookies for gifts again this year.

Our kids are grown and haven't believed in SC for over a decade. Each will get one very nice practical gift that they can really use in the coming year. Younger grand nieces and nephews are an exception to this.

Adult siblings on both sides of the family have a standing agreement not to exchange gifts. We do exchange each others company and feast when we gather as a family.

.40

[Steve Kroll]

We don't do Christmas -- at least not with a tree and gifts and all that malarkey. So I guess that means my planning is already done.

[Harry Cobean]

lunch with family & friends in a restaurant on the day,then jump on a boxing day flight for a week or two in the sun.destination unknown as yet.probably sort that on christmas eve.sounds like a plan to me!!

[Steve Kroll]

Originally Posted by Harry Cobean

lunch with family & friends in a restaurant on the day,then jump on a boxing day flight for a week or two in the sun.destination unknown as yet.probably sort that on christmas eve.sounds like a plan to me!!

HC, me and the fam will be in sunny Las Vegas on Christmas Day. You are welcome to come join us! Not a single evergreen or red-suited fat man in sight.

[Mad Cook]

Originally Posted by Andy M.

I'm still planning for Halloween. Then comes Thanksgiving. AFTER THANKSGIVING is when you start planning for Christmas. It's the law.

There were hot cross buns on sale in Tesco last week. (Hot X buns = Easter speciality, for consumption on Good Friday.) When I was a girl, Good Friday was the only day of the year they were available!

[Harry Cobean]

Originally Posted by Steve Kroll

HC, me and the fam will be in sunny Las Vegas on Christmas Day. You are welcome to come join us! Not a single evergreen or red-suited fat man in sight.

hmmmm...and with you there the booze is bound to be good....starting to sound more & more like a plan to me steve...!!

[Gravy Queen]

We have Halloween , Bonfire Night then Christmas so I suppose officially we can start planning after Bommy Night .

[Mad Cook]

Originally Posted by CrystalWriter

I'm asking because on Monday I picked up Good Housekeeping Christmas 2013 magazine, which contains a lot of very nice recipes.

My family already thinks I'm nuts as I've just finished a deep clean of the kitchen.

So is end of Oct, beginning of Nov. Too early to think about it? but considering a small number of the recipes can be made in advance.

I've made my mincemeat and I'm in the middle of my mammoth pudding making. I have a goose in the freezer (because it was less expensive than buying it nearer Christmas).

I always buy the presents when I see them because you can bet your bottom dollar that when you actively go Christmas shopping the shop will have run out of whatever it was you saw 3 or 4 months ago. Consequently I have all but one of the family ones. One of my male relatives is getting socks, which sounds depressingly un-enterprising except it's a special request and they're knitted by my own fair hand.

We've always had a bit of a tradition in the family that hand-made presents are worth more than even the most expensive store bought gift so those of us with a skill and the time to do it produced food gifts or knitted garments or whatever their skill was. My aunt, a skilled dress-maker, used to make me a dress every year and I still remember an old gold coloured dress with the most intricate hand embroidered smockiig when I was about 4 years old. And one of my uncles had been very ill and while convalescing he made me a beautiful dutch doll from felt. I've still got it and I think of Uncle Jack whenever I look at it. I often make up hampers of home-made goodies - c/pudding, a game terrine, a fruit cake, home-made jam, marmalade, chutneys and pickles, shortbread and things like that. Not this year though. The move and work on the house has scuppered that.

If it's a major operation with the whole family in attendance then getting as much as possible out of the way beforehand is sensible. The organiser of Christmas doesn't want to be dead on his/her feet come the big day.

[Mad Cook]

Which reminds me. I was at the old house the other day sorting out cupboards to bring stuff over to the new house and on the top shelf in the kitchen I found a 4 pint jar of home-made blackberry liqueur. Must be about 3 years old. Took the top off and sniffed (a technical method of checking for quality ) and it smelled very heady. Should be good. I'll take it to my aunt's as an offering for Christmas Day.

[pacanis]

Originally Posted by Andy M.

I'm still planning for Halloween. Then comes Thanksgiving. AFTER THANKSGIVING is when you start planning for Christmas. It's the law.

You're part right.
After Thanksgiving and after my birthday, but before Christmas is when you start planning for Christmas... unless your Russian, then you can take a few more weeks

[Aunt Bea]

I've started buying odds and ends of groceries for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Eve. It is sort of a holdover from when I was a kid. My Mother and my Grandmother would begin sneaking a few items into the grocery cart each week so the cost of the holidays was more manageable. As far as presents go, those are pretty much a thing of the past for me, a few cash envelopes, a couple bottles of booze and I'm done.

[Oldvine]

No, that's not too early. When it works for you is when you should start. I've started on my Christmas stuff already and there's not much to it. It's all slo-mo and enjoyable, right down to the simple potato soup on Christmas Eve.

[Zagut]

Originally Posted by Andy M.

I'm still planning for Halloween. Then comes Thanksgiving. AFTER THANKSGIVING is when you start planning for Christmas. It's the law.

I think it should be the law too.




"Not a single evergreen or red-suited fat man in sight. "


I can understand the evergreens but you need the red-suited fat man.


I'll fight .40 cal. for title of Grinch.

Haven't done Christmas this century.


But if you're into it then you should start Dec. 26th.

[MrsLMB]

I plan for Christmas all year long.

But it's only the Christmas meal I plan for and a food type gift for my neighbors.

We no longer do the gift thing but we do decorate the outside of our house with all kinds of lights and characters and music.

Inside we sometimes put up a tree and sometimes not.

But the food is always a big deal so it's an all the time thought.