A Cargo-based grandmother and a team of staff from an Orange restaurant have shown their commitment to putting on a massive Christmas spread.
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Cargo-based grandmother and Orange Country Women's Association member Elizabeth Lynch has already catered for her annual family Christmas lunch, which regularly involves between 15 and 20 adults plus half-a-dozen children of varying ages.
However, not everyone comes from a large family or can travel during the Christmas period due to work commitments, so The Oriana Orange is putting on a sold-out Christmas spread with a five-course dinner in the restaurant or a Christmas buffet in the garden.
The Orange Orange owner Espen Harbitz grew up in Norway to a family that ran motels, so he has always been used to his family working during Christmas and he was grateful to his staff who have elected to take time away from their families to create a memorable feast for others this year.
The first Oriana Christmas lunch was held last year when the community came out of lockdown and there was strong demand for it to be held again but it was up to the staff.
"It's all about whether the staff are willing to give up their family Christmas for coming here and working and making it an Oriana Christmas for guests," Mr Harbitz said.
We grew up with a very traditional Christmas dinner with ham and turkey and pork, baked vegetables, then quite a few years ago when my children grew up and became adults, we started introducing seafood so we would have seafood every year.
- Elizabeth Lynch
He said he asked the staff about six months ago and it's been a team effort with almost all of them giving up their family Christmas to go to work and the event sold out about a month ago.
"In the restaurant we do a more formal five-course festive Christmas menu, that includes lobster thermidore with bomb Alaska as well, those good retro party food," Mr Harbitz said adding that there are a lot of couples who have booked the restaurant this Christmas.
"In the garden there's more buffet traditional Christmas fare like Scandinavian or Norwegian hot smoked salmon for example, summer dishes, Mediterranean summer dishes."
There will also be roast turkey and glazed ham, traditional pork as well as a range of sides and deserts including Christmas pudding.
"It's more kid friendly and there's a kid's buffet as well and it's easier for families with kids to let them run around and even go for a swim in the pool," Mr Harbitz said.
"Luckily we have got a beautiful summer day forecast for it."
He said the event was tailored to how many Australians celebrate Christmas.
"The nature of Christmas in Australia is a focus on outside and you know in Europe and America being in the middle of winter it's very dark and cold, it's very focused on inside and a smallish family unit," Mr Harbitz said.
"Where I come from in Norway, it's unheard of inviting a lot of people, it's very much the inner family circle that gets together, while here it's a little bit more usual to get together with both friends and family. It's less sacred to be with family only.
"There's the element where it's nice to go somewhere where everything is done, the food is done, they don't have to worry about shopping for it and the preparation for it and the family Christmas can have a different focus, like just enjoy each other and nobody having to do it all at home."
Catering for a large family
Mrs Lynch has already hosted her Christmas lunch for her large family in Sydney so her children can spend Christmas Day with their partner's families, a circumstance that takes place in alternating years.
"We grew up with a very traditional Christmas dinner with ham and turkey and pork, baked vegetables, then quite a few years ago when my children grew up and became adults, we started introducing seafood so we would have seafood every year," Mrs Lynch said.
"Our Christmas got bigger and bigger so we would have seafood first so we would have cold prawns and hot prawns and maybe lobster tail and some other kind of seafood.
"One of my sons is a chef and he would do the seafood and then we would have ham and roast pork, roast turkey, chicken, a side of beef and a leg of lamb for meats.
"It just got ridiculous, and we would have with that hot vegetables and salads, usually roast potato because that's the most popular and we would have the other baked vegetables and we would have salads too so we'd have an Asian slaw salad usually, maybe a prawn salad with avocado and mangoes, that kind of salad, then for dessert we would have everyone pick a favourite."
Mrs Lynch said her mother and brother recently died but when they were alive, they loved Christmas pudding, so they'd have a hot traditional Christmas pudding.
"We always had a cheesecake, we always have a trifle, we always have a chocolate mousse, we always have an icecream bar and a pavlova, so we have six desserts generally and then chocolates and things."
Mrs Lynch said she cooks the Christmas lunch each year but the event alternates between different relatives houses in Sydney and some years they have hired an apartment or Air BNB if the space was needed or if she needed access to a kitchen while that year's host was at work.
She said they always use white tablecloths, a proper table setting with silver cutlery and there is a different colour theme each year.
Mrs Lynch said planning was the key to pulling off such an enormous feast.
"I have my mother's kitchen which is a very, very old kitchen and you juggle things a bit, two fridges, one oven," she said.
"I try to make as many detailed lists as I can so that I don't forget things and I try also to do a rough plan for the day so if it all becomes very frantic, I can look at the list."
Mrs Lynch said when it comes to cooking a delicious turkey, she doesn't buy a whole bird due to the amount of food waste and because some ovens aren't large enough, so she buys a turkey breast, which she finds easier to cook and doesn't need such a large oven.
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