A staggering 87 per cent of people in the UK believe Christmas would not be Christmas without the traditional roast turkey at the table.
But why are we so fond of the big bird during the festive season?
Turkeys were introduced in Britain more than 500 years ago by Yorkshireman William Strickland, who acquired six birds from American Indian traders on his travels.
Before that, people`s meat of choice for Christmas was geese, boars` head and even peacocks.
But from the moment turkeys arrived in this country, farmers realised that the animals they were killing for their Christmas feasts could be better used to provide other foods.
So, it has been left to the turkey to keep our stomachs full on Christmas Day - and many days after that. Henry VIII was the first English king to enjoy turkey in the 16th century, although Edward VII made eating turkey fashionable at Christmas.
But even though turkey is now a regular feature on a great majority of British Christmas tables, it has only gone mainstream over the last 60 years.
Indeed, up until the 1950s it was widely considered a luxury, as only then refrigerators became commonplace.
Back in the 1930s the average person had to work for a week to be able to buy a turkey. Now it only takes 1.7 hours of labour.
Unfortunately, the job of cooking that "perfect" Christmas turkey still often falls on the shoulders of women. According to research by Betta Living, 67 percent of British females will be the ones in charge of Christmas dinner this year.
According to another survey by Food Network, the average British woman will not attempt to cook their first Christmas lunch until the age of 34.
Nearly half of women polled said they felt a real sense of achievement when finally dishing up the Christmas dinner and 28 per cent of British men admit that their partner`s dinner is better than their mother`s.
Approximately 10 million turkeys are eaten in the UK every year.
However, turkey is not a traditional Christmas meal in a lot of other European countries
In Portugal, a seafood crazy nation, the typical Christmas animal is codfish.
Germans prefer wild boar or venison. While in Sweden the average Christmas feast would consist of caviar, shellfish, cooked and raw fish.
But whatever you eat on December 25 just make sure to make the most of it. After all, Christmas only comes once a year.
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