The night before Christmas

On Christmas Eve: We’ll have about 15 people for dinner and to stay the night. After the grandchildren have been put to bed we’ll light lots of candles, sit around and have a few glasses of bubbles and Christmas carols.

We have two trees: One is our “nostalgia tree” decorated with ornaments from our travels and others that hold special family memories. Then we’ll have a real tree that suits the style of our home, with natural, wooden decorations.

On the menu: We’re all foodies and so we like to try something different each Christmas, but we almost always have our favourite cheesecake – it’s a simple recipe but everybody loves it. Patty Coley