For Jeremy and me, enjoying a meal is intrinsically linked to time spent with friends and family.

At Christmas, it all comes together in abundance. With the restaurant closed for the public holidays and a short break on the horizon, we can relax and catch up with the people we love.

My family always hosts Christmas Eve dinner and the numbers vary over the years, sometimes swelling to more than 30 people, when chairs, plates and cutlery are BYO. It seems the whole house is rearranged to accommodate the six-metre dining table but we all thrive on the activity and anticipation of one of the year's most special nights.

The kitchen is a hub of activity, perfectly orchestrated by mum, with jobs divvied out to anyone in a 10-metre radius. More than once I've rushed home from work to find a few mud crabs sitting nervously in the laundry sink waiting for me to prepare them as an entree or there's a turkey, duck and two chickens to be boned and stuffed. Our table was always filled with a mixture of family, friends and neighbours. The numbers may have shrunk a little these days and I'm not expecting any mud crabs in the sink this year but each dinner is as memorable as the last and this year, our son Hunter is just old enough to know Santa is coming.

See all Cuisine's Christmas recipes here