Louise Minchin tells Joanne Goodwin what she plans to do to celebrate after leaving the I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! castle
I love Christmas.
We always start planning it months before, having long discussions about what type of tree we are going to have, where we are going to put it, what colour this year’s decorations are going to be, what we are going to eat, what time we are going to eat and when we can open our presents.
Festive dreaming occupies hours of family discussion.
Last year was no exception, knowing that I was going to be immobile for a couple of weeks in the run-up to the big day because I had an ankle operation, we started really early.
The tree went up as soon as we thought it decent at the start of December and all the other decorations shortly afterwards.
Because I knew I was going to spend a few weeks hobbling around using crutches, I was super-organised, I cleaned all the sheets, made all the beds, and did an early trip to the butcher to order the turkey, ham, bacon and all the trimmings.
Christmas is always particularly special for us, as it is also my husband’s David’s birthday on the day itself, but last year, it had even more significance than normal.
We hadn’t, like many of you, been able to see all our family for many months and goodness we were so excited at the prospect of spending time celebrating with them.
Everyone had their instructions about what to bring – the extra food and wine were in the house, Granny had made the Christmas cake and cranberry sauce, and we were playing Michael Bublé on a loop when suddenly, all of our plans were stopped in their tracks.
The prime minister announced that Covid rules were changing, bubbles were scrapped, and we went straight into Tier 4. I almost feel bad reminding you, as I can imagine many of you were affected too. With heavy hearts we had to cancel everyone. It felt like a terrible shame, and we were all hugely disappointed.
Strangely, it made for a rather lovely if subdued Christmas Day, just the four of us, the two dogs and the rescue ponies.
Gone was the pressure of cooking for everyone, and for once, we took it all at our own very leisurely pace. I loved every minute of the day, even taking time to take the Shetlands out for a mini festive walk.
I did my favourite thing of all, watched hours of Christmas specials piled up on the sofa with the labradors.
I think I learned last year that sometimes less is actually more. I enjoyed it so much I hung onto that festive feeling for months.
I refused to take down the Christmas tree until well into February as every time I walked past it and caught a glimpse of its tiny lights still twinkling in the dark during those long winter lock-down days, it cheered me up.
So, here we are again at the beginning of December and the anticipation starts all over. I am hoping with fingers crossed, that this year for all of us, all will be well.
Unbelievably, we have only just finished off the turkey, because we couldn’t swap it for a smaller one, the butcher cut it up into pieces and we froze a large part of it. It has been delicious, and I have realised that turkeys are not just for Christmas, but also Easter and beyond.
But, even though last year will always be special in our memories I am hoping this year that we can have the whole family back again, and you can too. Have a Happy Christmas everyone.
