Mom Asks Whether It's OK To Take Her Family Out For Fast Food Instead Of Cooking Christmas Dinner

Dec 14, 2022 by apost team

Dinner during the holidays usually means a feast of some sort shared between family and friends. Whether you have cousins flying in from another coast or grandparents driving down through icy conditions, the time of year gives reason to gather around the table for an evening of too many calories and plenty of desserts. 

Some families carve turkeys or hams. Others serve platters overflowing with roast vegetables, and seasonal specialties. Others opt to cater the event if not just meet the whole gang at a nice restaurant rather than deal with all the dirty dishes. However, not every group has a competent enough chef who's mastered the oven or the grill enough to confidently say dinner will be ready in time. 

If you've ever experienced the stress of trying to cook a roast while boiling potatoes all while the rest of the party is drinking and watching television in the next room, you might be tempted to say, this isn't worth it. Why make all the fuss? As much as the night is an opportunity and an excuse to eat a nice meal together, if you're not interested in the hours of prep, then why bother? 

One mother asked just this in December 2022. She posted to the popular blog, Mumsnet, about her unconventional plans for her family's Christmas Day meal. She opened her note, "It would be bad to do this…wouldn’t it..?" OP (Original poster) then went on to explain what exactly she would be doing that day instead of carving up a roast beast for relatives. 

She explained, "We live abroad and aren’t back to the U.K. to family this year." Despite not being on various red-eyes to wherever her family calls home, OP said they were all "quite happy to be at home." With the family's spirits already up, why ruin things with a stressful meal? Especially if it's something no one would miss. OP went on to clarify that her family was "not really fussed about Christmas dinner." Despite all the classic dishes, it seemed her brood wouldn't miss the meal at all. She said simply and honestly, "we don’t love it that much." 

She then detailed her plan for the evening, one which would truly surprise some readers. OP wrote, "How bad would it be to get a drive through McDonald’s and eat it at the beach?" A suggestion that perhaps no one could have guessed. 

OP then clarified that her family wouldn't entirely be missing out on all the festive foods. She wrote, "We’d still have lovely buffet type favourite foods for Xmas Eve, plus a nice breakfast and all our favourite chocs & cheese & biscuits." With her audience at least a little reassured that she wasn't entirely off script, she continued, "...we just wouldn’t have the main meal." This concession would be quite unacceptable to her extended family. She wrote, "I feel like if we did, we’d have to keep it secret and not tell our families, who would be outraged."

One reader wrote in support of the plan, and said: "Do whatever you want on Christmas Day, why would it be ‘bad’? And why care what other people think?" Another offered a point of clarification and said, technically, with hamburgers, they would be having the traditional beef dinner. Either entree, it should be a memorable meal. 

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What're your plans for your family's Christmas meal? Let us know — and be sure to pass this article on to friends and family, as well as any fellow McDonald's fans!