You share your tips for a stress-free Christmas dinner

And, while we all have our favourite part of the festivities, for many of us Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without the big family dinner (turkey or otherwise).

However, whether it falls on one or more people to prepare the meal, it can be a stressful task.

With that in mind, we asked readers of the Rhyl Journal, North Wales Pioneer and North Wales Chronicle for their tips on reducing stress in the kitchen on the big day.

Many said preparation was key, while others relied on varying quantities of alcohol to take the edge off.

Those less gifted in the culinary arts, suggested the best thing to do was stay out of the way.

Some suggested getting help from some mutual friends called Aunt Bessie and Mike Rowave.

Others opted for avoidance - eating out, ordering in, or relying on the hospitality of family and friends.

Whatever you do this Christmas, have a good one and a happy 2023!

This is what they said:

• Gemma Perry: “I do Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve and I do hot and cold buffet Christmas day hot pork and gammon baps and all the usual buffet stuff a lot more playtime Christmas day with the kids and less washing up happy days!”
• Welsh Steve: “Treat it like it’s just a Sunday roast which most of us do throughout the year anyway.”
• Dawn Davies replied: “Well said. My Christmas shop is more or less a normal weekly shop. Don't know why people go mad for one day!”
• Dave Wilson: “Go to my sister’s.”
• Linda Griffith: “Christmas meal on Christmas Eve....party food on Christmas day!”
• Catherine Anne Corrigan-Dodds: “Good preparation, cook turkey overnight and enjoy doing it.”
• Alison Lloyd-Jones: “Christmas meal cooked on Christmas Eve….eaten Christmas Day.”
• Jackie Yates: “Eat out.”
• Sarah Jarvis: “Get it from Marks and Spencer, whack it in the oven…Marvellous.”
• Joanne Jones: “I think we tend to create our own stress, just do your own thing if poss.”
• Tina Percival: “Cook your meat the day before and prep everything else so you just have to turn the cooker on in the morning.”
• Lisa Chamberlain: “Being organised.”
• Peter Bloomfield: “Get someone else to do it or go the full Keith Floyd and hit the wine early.”
• Jayne Hopper: “Cook the meat on Christmas Eve.”
• Angela George: “I would have takeaway if I had the money.”
• Lee King: “Get a takeaway.”
• Christine Mchugh Tim Newnes: “Prep everything the day before.”
• Hayley Rafferty: “Don't cook! I refuse to do it anymore. Order in.”
• Sarah Johnson: “My dad's the Christmas cook nearly every year and he gets it so spot on, oooo I can't wait lol.”
• Lorraine Honeey: “Prep - Xmas Eve Mary Berry style and two microwaves for a boost of heat.”
• Deborah Cain: “Its a Sunday roast.”
• Yvonne Whitehead: “Just have a few beers and it doesn’t matter.”
• Sandra White replied: “Ha ha loving that!”
• Julie Coomber: “Do the prep the night before. Gives you time with the family which is what Christmas is all about.”
• Kay Louise Redhead: “It’s just a roast dinner! Cook it like you would any other roast dinner.”
• Karen Goulding: “Get p***ed.”
• Tina Marie Jones: “Prep everything Christmas Eve then just change water and Ii cook turkey on very low overnight, then turn up in morning. I also use a steamer saucepan, not so many cooker rings used
• Cynthia Watson: “Take a bottle of sherry into the kitchen with you. Great stress reliever.”
• Jenny Hulme: “Go next door for dinner.”
• Keith Bonos: “Have a salad.”
• Gaynor Ellis: “Eat out.”
• Julia Romanovska: “Don't cook, make another family member to cook it.”
• Heather Mitchell: “Eat out.”
• John D Williams: “Book a restaurant and have it there! Less stress more time to drink and be merry, without the cleaning up afterwards!”
• Eirlys Roberts: “Just treat it as a Sunday lunch. Don’t stress over it and everything will run smoothly. It’s only another day!”
• Sammy Wilson: “Wine.”
• Anthony Stockton: “It's just like a Sunday dinner but with turkey.”
• Patricia Gratty: “Lock everyone in a cupboard till dinner is ready.”
• Debbie Williams: “Cook the veg the day before, not the roast potatoes obviously.”
• Alan Heseldin: “Prep prep prep as much as possible in the days leading up to the day then cook a Sunday lunch with a bigger chicken and a few more veg if anyone doesn’t like it well tuff luck on them
• Andrew Middleton: “It’s a Sunday dinner at the end of the day, nothing stressful except cooking for more.”
• Jane Shaw replied: “Exactly.”
• Nigel Parry: “Get the wife to cook it.”
• Hannah Jones: “Foil trays prep night before.”
• Ernest Martin Jnr: “Go out for Christmas Dinner. No washing up after.”
• Jacqueline Scott: “It's a dinner like the one you cook every day maybe for some it's a bigger meal. If you create and stress then you will make it worse.”
• Sue Payne: “Let someone else cook lol.”
• Scott Thomas: “Preparation is the key with the age of the microwave nothing will ever go cold plate dinners without meat in the morning meats and gravy put on last min after dinners warmed in micro everything served piping hot easy , can even be done the night before as long as you use fresh veg etc , leave to go cold plate and cover with cling then fridge til next day, make it easy not stressful.”
• Nic Lummis Dav: “Go get a curry! I am.”
• Nicola Simonds: “Just treat it like a Sunday lunch.”
• Lorraine Poole: “Go to work!!”
• Mary McDowell: “Aunt Bessy, very good Yorkshire puddings.”
• Jackie Wilkins: “Baileys!!”
• Paul David Chapman: “Prepare Everything on Christmas Eve.”
• David Mckee: “Do what I'm doing, going out for dinner.”
• Janice Bradford: “Find a pub an go out.”
• Mark Richardson: “To be stress free, stay in bed LOL.”
• Nigel Evans: “Go with the flow, and in today’s financial climate, be thankful you can afford a Chrimbo dinner.”
• Amanda Dobson: “I actually think it’s much more than a roast dinner!!!! I do turkey / sausage meat / pigs in blankets/ stuffing/cranberry sauce/ roast potatoes/ mashed potatoes/ carrot and turnip / sprouts/ cabbage/ parsnips/ asparagus/ cauliflower cheese/ sweetcorn/ broccoli and gravy.”
• Jackie Griffiths: “Prepare everything two days before.”
• Graeme Quinn: “Have a drink early.”
• Chris Hunt: “Go to your daughters.”
• Jean Genie replied: “Me too! This Christmas at granddaughter's. I haven't had to cook a Christmas dinner for about 20 years or more. Payback for all the years I did!!”
• June Frances Gibson: “Plenty of Fizz and let someone else cook!!
• Michelle Coldham: “Prep in advance (day before). Kick hubby out the kitchen (they all think they are super chefs) classic FM, glass of wine and chill.”
• Geoff Hazel: “Eat out!"
• Ian Papworth: “Keep well out of the way until asked.”
• Kev Hamilton: “Go out for Christmas dinner, job done.”
• Alun Davies: “Eat out.”
• Jacqui Jones: “Early preparation.”
• Mathew Porter: “Music.”
• Bobby Riley: “Eat out.”
• Benidorm Bushell: “Stay in bed till it’s all over.”
• Amanda Parry: “Wine.”
• Melissa Roberts: “Ricki Roberts will tell you he’s a master chef in the kitchen, super organised, he doesn’t know he’s cooking yet again this Christmas but he’ll soon know once he gets this tag
• Merry Christmas all hope your dinner is as nice as mine and as relaxed as mine will be.”
• Ricki Roberts replied: “t’s not my turn this Xmas it’s yours!”
• Lyndsay Davies: “Prep as much as you can the day before, so much easier.”
• Ccatrin Medijohnson: “Bottle of wine for breakfast.”
• Stephanie Jones: “Auntie Bessie everything!!!”
• Linda Astley: “Planning and lists.”
• Jason Hudgell: “Let someone else do it or get a takeaway…”
• Kate Kendall: “Get your husband to do it.”
• Sally Owen: “Start drinking early!”
• Becky Wilson: “We have a wonderful seafood risotto - far quicker to cook and easier the washup - winner ! and much nicer than slaving all day over the stove.”
• Stephen Ainscough: “Be happy and merry keep calm drink more lol.”
• Marian Courtney Thomas: “Let someone else do it.”
• Tamara-louise Jones: “It's a Sunday roast with a bit more faff don't stress plan and list things with timers make your life easy and organise it so you’re not back and forth flat out.”
• Frances Griffith: “Take the day off !!”
• David Roberts: “Red wine in every course.”
• Philip Roberts: “Microwave.”
• Mark A Jones: “Treat it as Sunday Dinner. That's all it is, but with cranberry sauce instead of mint sauce.”
• James M Fraser replied: “True story.”
• Nichola Soulsby Was Whittle added: “Bread sauce as well!”
• Margaret Lower: “Preparation and organisation.”
• Dave Cameron Chadwick: “It’s a Sunday roast, just approach it in the same way you do 51 weeks a year, but on this Sunday roast no one will bat an eyelid at you drinking a bucks fizz while you prep.”
• Julia Lloyd: “It's all the trimmings that take time , I made homemade stuffing last week its in the freezer, with the cranberry sauce apple sauce pig in blanket bread sauce also gravy freezes well made with juices from my chicken last week and tomato soup, I'll buy the Xmas pudding cook the bird Xmas eve also make the prawn cocktail, feet up with a bottle of wine. Happy days, merry Xmas to you all.”
• Louise Norman: “Use throw away foil containers to cook, less washing up!”
• Sue North: “Organisation.”
• Barbara Woodyatt: “Don't invite anyone!”
• Claire Holdsworth: “It’s just a roast dinner, no stress to it.”
• Elizabeth Burrows: “Prep night. Before. All veg. In morn. Cook veg put in microwavable. Dishes. Ready to warm up. Par boil. Spuds ready for roasted. Meat in oven. Aunt Bessie's Yorkie. Easy.”
• Eirian Hughes: “Drink wine.”
• Andrew Burke: “Go abroad.”
• Elz D Eez: “Sleep through.”
• Alis Max: “Prep the night before.”
• Caroline Brierley: “Takeaway.”
• John Littlewood: “Alcohol makes things go well and if they go wrong it’s a good excuse.”
• Bronwyn Durnin: “Gin and tonic.”
• Darrel Davis: “Ask them to phone when dinner is ready.”
• Sharon Smith Lees: “Drink plenty.”
• Peninsula Property Management: “Be organised allocate roles to guests and do as much as you can in advance!”
• Sian Jones: “Aunt Bessie's roast potatoes and instant mash. Prep other veg the day before, re heat in microwave.”
• Sue Grainger: “Get somebody else to cook for me.”
• Cathy A Bowen: “Get someone else to cook it.”
• Julie Evans: “Prep the night before...then get Drunk!! the GAP in between could be random...”