Christmas is coming

In five weeks time millions of families around the world will be sat round freshly cut pine trees covered in lights, baubles, beads and tinsel, whilst desperately unwrapping the brightly coloured packages that lie beneath it boughs, the smell of roast turkey in the air. The scene is the same in almost all countries round the world but we each have our own traditions, I know my family does.

Christmas is important in my family as it is the only time of year that the whole family is together, mum, dad, my two brothers, my sister and me. Having all left home at 18 and now living in different counties and even countries it can be difficult to get all siblings under my parent's roof. We all look forward to christmas and the few days we get to spend together, all 6 of us. Christmas eve is all about preparation, cutting vegetables, making stuffing, wrapping presents and delivering them to those that live in the neighbouring towns and villages.

Christmas day arrives and I awake hoping to see snow, with no curtains on the windows of my bedroom it doesn't take long to find out if my wish has come true or not. I share a bedroom with my older sister and whoever wakes first wakes the other, we like to spend these first moments of the day together. I am 27, my sister 31 and my brothers 29 and 23 but we still wake to find stockings by our beds. My sister and I open ours together, we always have about 10 presents each and we can usually predict what they are, but that is what we love about it. At the bottom of the stocking we can always find an apple, a tangerine, chocolate coins and 1 real pound coin. Having completed the stockings my sister and I climb out of bed, wrap up warm and head straight outside into the bitter cold, thanking our mum along the way. Ever since I was a little girl there has been dogs in our family and our first priority on christmas day is walking them. The countryside is always still in the early morning, but the quiet is soon disturbed by our three beasts that run and play in the cold frost or wet snow. As we approach the house once again we see mum in the field feeding our two horses, both of them wrapped up against the cold, standing knee deep in fresh, sweet hay.

Back inside and it is all in line for the bathroom and turkey in the oven. As the smell of roast turkey slowly seeps through the house we head to the sitting room to unwrap the presents that lie beneath the lit tree. The tree is put up the week of christmas to avoid the needles dropping before the big day, it reaches the ceiling with ease leaving only just enough space for the fairy which sits on top. The branches are laden with beads and baubles of reds, golds, oranges and yellows, the small discreet lights twinkle on and off. The tree sits in one corner of my parent's living/dining room, but we prefer to open the presents sat round a lit fire, looking out of the floor to ceiling windows over the Eden valley. It is my favorite place and my favorite moment.