YOUR HOME A FEAST FOR YOUR EYES C

HRISTMAS dinner. It’s no more than a Sunday roast with paper hats and relatives you’ve avoided all year, right? So say some. And I get it – cooking wise I’ll never be awarded any Michelin stars for my efforts, but I’m OK with that. Because to me, that’s not the point of it all.

When I was a teen, we used to spend all our Christmases at my Auntie Norma’s which was slightly unusual as she lived in Stirling and we lived in Cheshire.

Every Christmas morning, after opening our presents, there was a mad rush to get showered and ready for our four-hour drive up to Scotland. When we got there, my granny would be waiting, with jumpers she’d knitted for each of us. This was before the days of fun, ironic Christmas knitwear – if she were alive today, Granny would be making a fortune!

We’d put on our jumpers and head straight to the dining room, where Auntie Norma would present us with a feast fit for kings.

And that’s where we’d stay – eating, drinking, playing games and sharing stories while the food came and went. That beautifully set table was the centre stage for our Christmas, and like a cog in a machine, if we’d taken that bit out, our festive celebration wouldn’t have worked in the way they did.

Yes, the food we eat on December 25 may be little more than a supercharged Sunday roast, but it’s the love and beauty that surrounds it which transforms it into so much more. What a pretty way to bring a touch of the countryside indoors. With the flickering of one tealight, this cone and fir trim will come to life.