“Christmas is the one day that it’s OK to stay in your pyjamas all day long”

Fern britton lives with her tV chef husband, phil Vickery, in buckinghamshire. she has four children. my earliest Christmas memory is discovering a present i wasn’t supposed to see. I was about five and we had a dining room that we didn’t use often, but one day I went in there and there was a brand new blue and yellow tricycle. I knew it had to be for me, but I could hardly believe it. I had to pretend I hadn’t seen it, which was tough at that age. my favourite part now is Christmas eve – i love it when the world starts to slow down a bit. Phil actually proposed to me on christmas eve in 1999 – now that was special.

Christmas day is all about relaxing. no one has to get dressed – you can stay in your pyjamas for as long as you want. that’s the fun of it, isn’t it? my mother died five months ago, so it’s going to be a very different Christmas without her. like me, she hated brussels sprouts and our tradition every year was that we had to eat one. It was a real ceremony, and if we could do it, we were allowed to go straight onto pudding! as you get older you realise that there’s very little you actually want for Christmas.

I’d like to be able to travel more, so if I found a ticket in my stocking that said “right, we’re going somewhere – anywhere – in the world”, I’d love that. I’d better start dropping hints.

Fern is currently appearing in calendar Girls the Musical. coming Home by Fern Britton (HarperCollins) is out now.