CASSIE STOKES
TV presenter (far left), pictured with her sister, Alex
2016 has been a 180-degree turn in my life, which is amazing. I was in London this time last year and didn’t have any plans to come home, and then I got that tweet. It was from Xpose [asking if she’d be interested in covering Karen Koster’s maternity leave; Cassie has since been made permanent] and here I am living in Ireland, and I couldn’t be more thankful. When you make those wishes on January 1, there’s no way you think that it’s actually going to happen. This year has been a dream come true, but a very unexpected one. I get to live close to my family. I get to see my grandma every single day.
Over Christmas, I plan on laughing a lot and am going to be surrounded by my friends and my family. Christmas Day, my sister and I get up and we have matching pyjamas, which is super cool. We will probably do onesies. Then we have breakfast in my grandma’s house, which is next door to my mum’s. It’s funny, because we see each other all the time, and yet, when we see each other on Christmas Day it’s just that extra bit special.
We have a huge family — my mum has a family of 10, which is amazing. So, we will be going to dinner at my aunt’s house, which is just up the road from our family home in Dundrum, and there’s usually about 25 to 30 of us. I am very blessed with my family; we all get on, and we spend so much time together. We all do our part on the day for the dinner, and we just drink wine and we laugh. We’re lucky we get on. I can’t stop gushing, but I really have a great family.
We have four little babies that came along in the last year as well, so it’s really amazing. On Stephen’s Day, myself and my sister will drive out to my dad’s house and spend time with him.
One of my favourite traditions is on Christmas Eve — myself and my sister go into town and we spend the whole day together. We meet up with my dad. He loves going for a Chinese at, like, 12 o’clock so it’s, like, the earliest-bird ever, and then we will go for coffee. Then my mum comes into town and we will go for a meal with her; and then we meet the rest of my family in the pub. Then my sister and I will go meet up with our friends. So, it’s just a day jam-packed full of loved ones.
You just see everyone you know in town, and everyone’s happy. I have never missed a year. I tried to do one year in Canada, and then, about December 15, I was like: ‘No, I can’t miss it. I have to be home for Christmas. I love it so much’.