Why Christmas food isn’t allowed all year round I shall never understand. Okay, so you may gain a little weight, and maybe pigs in blankets aren’t actually very good for you, but amazing food is worth going up a dress size for. If you weren’t already mega excited for the big day of food and family and more food, then here are some best bits:
- The cute Christmas coffee cups. There is nothing that pleases me more on a cold wintery day than a takeaway Costa cup with a penguin in a jumper. Seriously, how much cuter can a latte get? It’s the little things. Especially after a taxing seminar.
- Cranberry sauce. Okay you definitely need to like cranberry sauce in order to like pub Christmas food. It’s basically in everything. Panini, toasties, baguettes, roast dinner… You name it, and cranberry sauce will definitely feature. There’s something magically weird about having a fruit sauce with gravy.
- The cheese selections. This one is a bit of a cop-out for me; I only actually eat the Brie and Cheddars from the box. But there’s nothing better on Boxing Day than a load of crackers, crisps, dips and cheese to fill your (already full) belly.
- The roast dinner. I mean, come on. Who doesn’t like Christmas dinner?? The roast potatoes, the stuffing, the gravy… And now I’m a student I’ve even come to enjoy the brussel sprouts – free food is free food.
- The alternative breakfasts. At Christmas it is socially acceptable to eat anything for breakfast. Fancy some leftover turkey sandwich from yesterday? Or maybe a chocolate bar from your Cadbury selection? Leftover trifle? You name it; it’s definitely acceptable. Well, unless you’re one of those weirdos who eats sprouts before noon. Not cool.
- Lots of family meals. You probably need to like your family in order to agree with me on this one, but I find that after months of being in Leeds it’s nice to spend time with my parents and sister (and obviously the dog). Plus you don’t have to worry about budgeting in your shopping money every week – bye bye morrisons deals for the next month.
- You can drink alcohol – a lot. At Christmas, cocktails before noon, presecco at lunch, Irish coffee in the afternoon, mulled wine at night… Everything goes. Enjoy it whilst you can. (Also, some of it might be free).
- Christmas hats and crackers. Whoever thought that wearing paper hats at dinner would be so amusing? But it is once a year. Any meal on Christmas day without an abundance of crackers is met with bitter disappointment. And even your grumpy older relatives join in on the fun.
- The sheer amount of puddings. Although I’m not a massive fun of christmas cake, christmas pudding or mince pies (why all the dried fruit??), there are loads of different options up for grabs. Yule log, that posh artic role your mum went specifically to Waitrose for, Ben and Jerry’s ice cream… Plenty of choice for all you dried fruit haters out there (who probably just steal icing and marzipan from the christmas cake).
Charlie Collett
(Photo credit: http://trenchermans.com/christmas-food/)