'CHRISTMAS CAN NEVER BE CHEESY ENOUGH'

There’s no hanging up of his apron for Jamie Oliver as he prepares his family feast for wife Jools and their five children

Christmas is a massive deal for us. We are so into it and love the whole build-up. It can never be cheesy enough! Obviously with a house full of kids it all gets incredibly exciting.

Jools and I enjoy seeing the kids opening what Santa’s left them. He’s quite messy as his footprints go into the house. And that reindeer! So greedy. I put out a whole plate of mince pies and figs from the garden and he ate the lot of them. I have a feeling he left a whoopsie behind but it was a joke one. The kids loved it of course.

I’m all for collaboration and teamwork, but Jools and I don’t cook very well together. She doesn’t like being told what to do! So she finds other things she’s very good at like table planning, dressing it, sorting out drinks and I will take the cooking bit. It just works.

We have goose from Goodman’s Geese and Kelly Bronze turkey from Paul Kelly, which work really well together. I hate Christmas pudding as it feels a bit heavy for me, but I will do it anyway. We always have a pavlova and my mum’s trifle.

Christmas Day is good, quality family time. There is overindulgence and always a fire lit and I have a little snooze in the afternoon for half an hour. I’ve got two boys now and the only downside is I’ve had a lovely Christmas dinner, it’s warm, I’m probably a little bit tiddly and everything is as you would dream it would be. But for the last couple of years, I’ve been woken up in utter pain by my son jumping right on my… He seems to aim for it! I’m considering asking for a cricket box for Christmas. Utter pain!