NOW I begin to understand why we don't have them at Christmas. I'm in AUSTRALIA and it is high summer.In fact there has been a move away from having any kind of traditional Christmas dinner at all, and going with a BBQ instead. I resisted this for a long time, having grown up with roasts and pudding and all that, but it gets SO hot in the kitchen so the last 2 years it has been a BBQ, with howls of complaint from my (grown up) son who likes his hot roast with baked vegies, including mushy peas
I also suspect that I never got to taste brussel sprouts as they should taste because my mother was a terrible cook. She used to UNDERCOOK the baked vegies,like the potatoes, so they were hard, and the greens were SEVERELY overcooked so they all looked grey.