How will you do festive fab?

One of the moments I’ve been most looking forward to for today is sitting in an old Irish pub in Dublin dressed in my favourite cosy knit and sipping a half of Guinness. We fondly refer to these former haunts of the likes of James Joyce and Seamus Heaney as ‘old-man pubs’. The elderly chaps are the regulars who keep the bar propped up all year round. The rest of us are mere festive blow-ins.

No time of the year is more steeped in long-loved traditions than Christmas. And we are all creatures of habit when it comes to celebrating the next couple of days. The rituals that fall into place when we are children often stick with us through adulthood and are passed down to our own little ones. (Don’t worry, my ten-year-old won’t be drinking a half of Guinness quite yet.)

I love hearing about other people’s customs at this time of year – and what they are planning to wear. Of course, it’s also important to stay open to making new traditions, to avoid becoming samey.

This year, we’re bringing my parents to a Dublin hotel, which will be a totally novel experience for our family. Normally, there’s always one of us loaded down with all the cooking and cleaning. When it was my turn two years ago, a guest with good intentions and a few glasses of champagne inside them sprinkled flour all over my wooden floors just before midnight on Christmas Eve. She was convinced my son would believe the footprints she intended to leave in the fake snow were Santa’s. My overtired Christmas self was not impressed and out came the vacuum cleaner before the clock struck 12.

Christmas Day can be confusing when it comes to deciding what to wear. With each household having its own sartorial traditions – back in the day my in-laws went for full black tie – there’s not a textbook answer. While some readers will want to dress up and keep things on the formal side, others will embrace the easy indulgence of a winter day spent entirely indoors, eating and napping.

What’s really important, whatever your plans are, is to wear something that makes you feel good. There is a lot to be said for an outfit that brings joy and can be worn again and again, year after year. I always change after Christmas dinner, when waistbands begin to feel tight and it’s time to flop on the sofa in something off duty. This year the sofa will most likely be a hotel bed, from which I will watch one of the old classic Christmas movies. But from silken separates and cosy knits, to metallic shoes and luxurious velvets, whatever you choose, just revel in it.