Every year, Irish chefs light up our TV screens as they guide us through the tricky matter of cooking Christmas dinner.
Sharing tips and tricks from their years of experience, they ensure that home cooks across the country serve up perfectly crispy roast potatoes and the most delicious Christmas ham.
But what about the rest of the holiday season?
As well as cooking Christmas dinner, many of us will have Christmas Eve parties to throw and festive morning feasts to whip up. That's where Donal's Christmas Eve and Donal's Festive Party come into play.
Skehan's two specials are full of delicious Christmas treats, family baking ideas, and tasty recipes that will keep the whole family happy over the holidays.
Donal's Christmas Eve will be peppered with heartwarming family moments with Donal, his wife Sofie, and their two boys, Noah and Oliver, enjoying their Christmas Eve traditions.
"It's a lovely one to do," says Donal. "We've obviously done Christmas so many times over the years, so it's nice to focus on the traditions in our family in the lead-up to the day."
The Skehan household is a mixed bag of celebrations at Christmas time thanks to Donal's Irish traditions merging with Sophie's Swedish ones, making Christmas Eve particularly special for the family.
"In Sweden, Christmas is always celebrated on the 24th so we do the 24th when we're in Sweden, obviously, and when we're here we still do a small celebration. There's actually a tradition where Santa comes to the house, he pops by just to check on everyone before the big delivery takes place. We have some drinks with family members, and Santa comes to visit and meets the boys."
Once the Christmas Eve celebrations are done, Donal says that he and his wife are going to attempt a Christmas Day swim but, really, the festive activity he most looks forward to most is baking with his boys.
"We always love baking on the weekends, it's a nice thing to do and the kids are pretty involved - they enjoy measuring out the ingredients."
"As part of the TV show, they helped me out doing a recipe and it was absolute carnage," he adds laughing. "Normally they're pretty good in the kitchen, but Oliver was head-to-toe cookie dough and Noah was still quite diligent. I've never had to present a recipe while also trying to commandeer children into the mix as well, but it was good fun."
While keeping his children on course, Donal will whip up a breakfast of Gingerbread Pancakes with Warm Berry Compote and a delicious batch of Spiced Caramel Cookies.
This will be followed by some Christmas Eve dinner recipes such as a Ham & Cheese Wreath with a Sprout and Cranberry Salad as well as sweet treats like Sweet & Savoury Popcorn with Hot Chocolate.
The next holiday special, Donal's Festive Party, is full of Christmas cheer as our presenter serves up retro recipes with some contemporary twists like Filo Prawn Cocktails and an Easy Cheese Fondue as well as make-ahead Festive Chicken Tagine with a Jewelled Herby Cous Cous and a Baked Alaska with a Cherry and Honeycomb Centre served with sparklers fizzing on top.
Not only that, but Donal will be sharing tips and tricks on how to make catering for a crowd a doddle, and how to do as much as possible in advance so you don’t get stuck in the kitchen all night.
His main tip? Plan ahead.
"Now is the time to make your menu plan," he insists. "Everyone gets caught up in all the festivities and the lead-up comes in quicker so now is the time to make your menu plan. I was in at the butcher's on the weekend and she said she was already sold out of turkey, so you don't want to be in that position."
"If you have a plan, you can delegate and that's a big tip for anyone who is tackling this because it's such a bloody pain in the arse meal," he laughs. "There are very few times throughout the year that you're going to be cooking two separate proteins and five different side dishes, so delegate what you can.
"If you are doing it all by yourself try and make a menu that is easy to do. Don't feel you have to tackle the big ticket items. You can make life easier by doing a rolled stuffed turkey breast and a nice ham that's prepared in advance. I know there are traditional purists out there but I would say make your life as easy as possible, it's a difficult time of the year."
If you want to prep some dishes ahead of time, Donal says that a rolled turkey breast is a great one to prepare ahead of time, plus it's an easier and more even piece of meat to cook.
Additionally, a Christmas ham can be boiled and a glaze can be prepared in advance so that it only needs to be glazed and baked on the day.
Gravy can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge, while carrots and potatoes can be parboiled and popped in the fridge ahead of time.
"Use your microwave," insists Donal. "We all have them and they should be used, particularly at this meal where you can cook your veggies quickly. You can do Brussel Sprouts in the microwave with a load of lovely butter and herbs and do them in five to eight minutes.
"Things like that where you can free up your hob space and take cheat's way out - by all means, do it."
Watch Donal's Christmas Eve on Sunday 18th December at 7.30pm. Donal's Festive Party will air on Thursday 29th December at 8.00pm.
Find all the recipes after the shows air on RTE.ie/Food.
