Kirstie’s secret sadness: The pain that is haunting Christmas
Over the past five years, Kirstie Allsopp has brought cheers to homes across the land in her Handmade Christmas series, using decorations made of everything from tin to resin – but there is one thing, it seems, she doesn’t want to make this year...
Kirstie Allsoppunsurprisingly - goes all out in the holidays to decorate her homes in London and Devon. The property guru from LoveItor ListIt has been helping couples find dream homes for the past 20 years. And, as a mum of two [she has sons Oscar, 13, and Bay, 11, with property developer Ben Andersen] regularly makes headlines for her outspoken comments on health and childrearing. Kirstie takes a break from the glue gun to chat festive plans, kids’ iPads, and living happily ever after – without saying ‘I do’…
Why do you think Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas strikes such a chord with people?
For exactly the same reason that Location, Location, Location is popular. There are people who love sitting on the sofa watching others search for houses, and people who really are seriously thinking about moving, and both groups watch. It’s the same with the Handmade Christmas series: some people are desperate to make things, while others love the feeling it creates. There’s a cosiness to it.
So how do you tend to spend the holidays?
After my mum (Lady Fiona Hindlip) died, a year later we lost my father-in-law, Viv, in 2013. Christmas Day changed. My siblings live all over Britain, so we all meet for a meal in the build-up. Then on the day it tends to be just the six of us (when my stepsons Hal and Orion are with us), which is really nice. If it’s just the four of us – my stepsons are in LA with their mum this year – we often go away to the Bahamas and spend it with another family. That’s what we’re doing again this year.
Are you a last-minute Christmas buyer or a planner?
I’m a September person for presents because I have a lot
of people to buy for. I look carefully for new gifts, and this year there’s a fantastic multi-use beauty product called Everyday Oil that I’m getting that smells delicious, and I’m giving to lots of the women in my life. If by half term I haven’t cracked the shopping, I’m disappointed. I’d hate to be at the Christmas Eve carol service thinking I still had wrapping to do.
Do you go mad at Christmas or are you restrained with gift-giving?
I have a bad reputation within my family for going mad, not just with the children but with my godchildren, nieces and nephews. My mum was like that. Now it’s harder, because they want clothes and trainers. I’m not buying Gucci trainers for my children, let’s be clear, but it’s hard
when your kid wants some hoodie or ‘merch’ you don’t like. You think, ‘ What happened to my baby?’ But you have to let them grow up.
You grabbed headlines last year for smashing your boys’ iPads when they broke screen-time rules. Was it the right thing to do?
For us as a family, it was a line that needed to be drawn – and they now know that they are not to push certain boundaries. They do have iPads again, at the weekends and on journeys only. We go to Devon most weekends, and the iPads appear at 4.30pm at Paddington Station. And Bay now has a smartphone, because he’s 13. You have to let go a bit, but we were the last in the class to let go.
‘I’m a September person for presents, because I have a lot of people to buy for!’
You and Ben have never married. Would you like a surprise marriage proposal for Christmas?
Oh, God forbid! No, absolutely not. Weddings have become an obsession, and completely out of hand – two years in the planning, thousands of pounds, dragging your friends halfway around the world. And I don’t want to generalise, but I think a lot of men just aren’t that into them. I just don’t have that... urge. I think at some point in the distant future, we may get married and if we did it would be very quiet and just involve the children, because they are the only people truly invested in it.
What’s your big New Year’s resolution?
To get more sleep! I’m a potterer late at night, and probably more than once a week, I go to bed after midnight – and I’m up at the crack of dawn for work! It’s really bad for you. Science now tells us that sleep is everything – it’s when the brain rejuvenates itself. So my resolution is to go to bed earlier.
l The finale of Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas is on Channel 4 on 10 December