JJ on #whenxmasbegins for him

Christmas has always been a special time for me. One of my earliest memories of Christmas was when Father Christmas bought me a tape player with two microphones on which I recorded myself speaking A LOT! I think that is where I developed a love of the sound of my own voice.

One of the things I love about Christmas is the sense of community and the excuse it gives to get together with old friends you haven’t seen for a while. Growing up in a village means that my Christmas time is full of reunions by the fire in our local pub.

Christmas always used to start for me after our carol service at school, after which we were handed back to parents for the holidays. However, since starting work it has been getting later and later. Christmas now begins when I get home to decorate our tree and educate my niece on some of the great Christmas movies – and no, Frozen is not on my list.

My favourite day of the year is Christmas Eve – every year the whole family sits and watches a couple of films during the afternoon. In the evening we sit down for roast beef followed by a trip to the local pub for a few drinks before Midnight Mass.

To be honest I am already excited about Christmas, but unfortunately I have to wait a few more weeks before I can take the Christmas jumper out of the cupboard and bombard everyone with Michael Bublé’s Christmas album.

This year I will be celebrating my first Velvet Christmas and can’t wait to enjoy a few festive drinks with some new friends.

I just can’t believe that it was 20 years ago that I sat on Father Christmas’ lap in his workshop in Lapland (I promise to circulate the photo).

To read Tasha’s previous post on #whenxmasbegins for her, check it out here.