My day in cups of tea

DESIGNER- MAKER AND CRAFT TEACHER EMMA MITCHELL TELLS US ABOUT HER CHRISTMAS IN CUPPAS

Merry Christmas! How does your day kick off? With our smallish daughters and our dog all piling onto our bed. We gleefully open presents, and sometimes stay in our pyjamas until late morning. Christmas Day is usually very quiet. Sounds toasty. Tell us a little about your home and how you like to decorate it for Christmas. It’s an 18th-century Fenland cottage painted in Suffolk pink. I make one or two decorations a year and add them to our collection. We bring berries and twigs in from the hedgerow and hit the paper-craft supplies with gusto! And what’s for Christmas breakfast? A cuppa. I’ll admit to having three cups before I tackle anything. Then it’s croissants, bacon and egg. And sometimes cake for breakfast pudding! Does the TV go on at any time? Oh, definitely. Usually we switch it on to watch Elf or The Snowman and the Snowdog. What Total relaxation, do you like extended best about time Christmas? in pyjamas, being with my family, and roast potatoes. How do you sustain yourself through the day? There’s often tea brewing in one of my two 1940s enamel utility teapots. Then it’s cheese, crisps, cake and chocolate – and a post-roast snooze. We’re thinking of having something a bit more boozy. What do you fancy? Ooh, either a berry cocktail (from my book Making Winter) or a nip of hawthorn gin. Do you get outside on Christmas Day at all? Yes, we have a lurcher puppy, called Annie, whom we take for walks every day. She loves bounding through the beautiful wood behind our cottage. How do you see out Christmas Day? In my pyjamas by the fire with a crochet project. I’ll have a lovely glass of wine or a hot chocolate (with a dash of whisky added – it’s Christmas).