Laura Nolan
PROFESSIONAL DANCER
It’s all about family in our house at Christmas time. My mam made it really important to be together around this time of year, so we try to spend as much time with the family as possible. We have the same traditions for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as we did when we were younger. On Christmas Eve, Mam will always be at home preparing for the dinner the next day.
I’ll go into town with my dad. He usually buys Mam’s present when he’s with me, and then I’ll meet my two brothers, Gary and Stephen, in town, before going home to spend the evening together. Our neighbours come down, and we will have a nice, relaxed evening.
Even now, despite my brothers being 29 and 30, we still get visits from Santa. We have a big Irish fry-up on Christmas morning, before heading out to my Nana’s house to catch up with the extended family. We have our own dinner back home with just the five of us.
It’s so nice being home, not just for Christmas, but for the run-up to Christmas. I was based in the south of Italy for five years, representing Ireland in the European and World Championships in dancing, so I only came back last January. Although I was based in Italy, I was travelling all around the world, from America to China.
I got the call at the beginning of the year to go on this season’s Dancing with the Stars. So I felt it was the right time to come home. And do something different. It’s exciting — everything sort of fell into place.