Miriam, Madrid, Spain

I’m from Madrid and we celebrate Christmas with a huge family dinner on the night of the 24th and lunch on the 25th. For us, it is about spending time with the family and enjoying good food together.

These days there are lots of children, so it gets quite lively! On Christmas Day, we start chopping, cooking and pickling the food for dinner at around lunch time to allow enough time for preparations.

There are usually about 12 people gathered around the dinner table, depending on the year. My brother, his wife and children as well as my sister, husband and their children all come along.
 

For dinner, we have different kinds of starters such as prawns, ham, cheese, loin, winkles, empanada gallega (a type of fish pie) and almond soup.

As a main dish we have clams and roasted lamb, and as a dessert, we usually have apple pie and turrón (nougat). We like having wine with our food and throughout the evening we toast with Spanish cider!

After dinner, the children sing with a tambourine and after that, they ask for their Christmas presents - what a relief! Most of the time, the adults are the most impatient when it comes to giving and receiving presents....