This 25 December will be the first Martin Bellamy and his wife, Alison, have spent in their new home in Sherburn, North Yorkshire, and, with their children and grandchildren scattered across the UK, they are planning to spend this Christmas Day doing things their way. Above all, that means escaping what Bellamy calls “the tyranny of a roast dinner”. He says: “The plan is to take a flask of chestnut soup, some turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce sandwiches, some Christmas cake (and cheese – this is Yorkshire after all) and head to the beach at Hunmanby Gap to blow away the cobwebs. “We’ll arrive home with a tired schnauzer and a sense of relaxed contentment, before an afternoon of seasonal trashy TV and an evening of grazing and mild inebriation. Bliss.” Every family who celebrate Christmas have their own traditions, he says, “but I can imagine that this year a lot of people are struggling to manage a full roast and all the trimmings. I think people have moved on from that, anyway. We’re a diverse nation, aren’t we? It’s a bit weird that we expect everybody to have a turkey.” For many people, of course, 25 December is an ordinary day like any other. But in the UK at least, for those who do celebrate Christmas, a traditional roast dinner has been a remarkably enduring family mainstay. There are signs, however, that those Britons who “do Christmas” increasingly want to do it differently. Though almost 90% of people in the UK say they celebrate the holiday, more than a third, according to one survey, don’t want a traditional Christmas dinner. Many of them told the survey they would be opting for a takeaway. Research cited by Asda found that more than two-thirds of Britons said it wasn’t important to eat turkey at Christmas – as a result, it has diversified its “ready to roast” range to include alternatives like monkfish wrapped in Parma ham. Waitrose says this will be its biggest ever year for plant-based food. The disruption wreaked by Covid allowed many families to rethink their festive traditions, and with finances particularly squeezed this year, many Guardian readers told us they too were planning to celebrate Christmas differently this year. “For 50 years I’ve felt obliged to produce the typical Christmas roast with all the trimmings, but this year is going to be the start of a much easier spread going forward,” says Alice from Warminster in Wiltshire. For her three-generation gathering, that will mean “a big pot of homemade curry with all the sides, followed by an array of favourite desserts. We all love a mild creamy curry and my grandchildren prefer it to a traditional Christmas roast. Also, it’s a lot cheaper. “I can make it ahead of the day in my slow cooker and just reheat instead of spending hours on Christmas Day getting sweaty and stressed in the kitchen. Win, win, win, win.” As a family of dessert lovers, a big spread of tiramisu, trifle and sticky toffee pudding will become their once-a-year feast, she says. “It’s definitely time for a Christmas food rethink. We can all be together and feast just as well for a lot less money and a lot less hassle.” As her children grew older, Louisa in Warwickshire decided some years ago that she too was fed up roasting turkey, abandoning the tradition in favour of a different international menu each year. Previous Christmases have seen Chinese, Indian, Spanish, Polish and Lithuanian menus, and this year will be a multi-course tasting menu themed around herbs and spices. “Over those years we have been joined by girlfriends, boyfriends, long-term partners and now spouses. No one has ever complained or thought we were strange. In fact many people have said what a good idea it is, but that they wouldn’t do it because their family wouldn’t like it. To those people I always say, go ahead … I love it!” Pip Bradley, who owns a small business selling her own-recipe hot sauce and running independent markets in Birmingham, says the period before Christmas is far too frantic to bother with a roast when the bank holidays finally arrive. “Christmas Day is the day the work stops, but after being so busy cooking our sauces, the last thing we want to do is cook a big feast. “So we gather the best cheeses from our cheese-selling mates at markets, and these, along with the most amazing nibbles, breads and sweet treats, are our Christmas dinner. Our cheese board is epic! So it’s bad movies and lots of cheese and not moving from the sofa all day.” Even for those who keep things traditional, there’s no reason not to mix it up a little. Maureen Clyne grew up in Malaysia, where her family celebrated Christmas with dosa and chutneys and a spread of curries. Her marriage to “a very traditional English boy”, and two daughters who love a traditional roast, however, have meant years making a festive spread that she personally finds terribly bland. Her one rebellion has been “a big jar of sambal”, and a liberal application of the chilli paste across meat, potatoes and vegetables. This year, to her great delight, her sister is coming from Malaysia for Christmas, meaning that alongside the roast will be mutton and chicken curries, and the sambal will be shared. “When you’re not from this country and you’ve got family abroad, it’s something that connects me with the family that I’m missing.”