It’s the most wonderful time of the year – after weeks of anticipation and last-minute shopping, finally, Christmas is here. While we’re all at home inhaling our billionth mince pie and checking the fine print on the gift receipt that came with that novelty mug, it’s tempting to imagine how the other half are spending their holidays.
This festive season, though, our celebrity friends are ditching the ski chalets in St Moritz and swim-up bars in Bora Bora for more understated affairs. You’ll find them sitting around the fire, spoiling their furry friends, watching Home Alone on repeat, and guzzling wine by the bottle. Stars… they’re just like us.
Suranne Jones, star of TV shows ‘Vigil’ and ‘Doctor Foster’
Anything to do with Christmas I f***ing love. I love it. I love it. I love it. I always feel Christmassy in October. I’m the annoying one that’s sending messages around saying, ‘What do you want for Christmas?’ It’s my cue to stop working and go see my friends.
In the north, we have a big early Christmas, so on 2 December we get all the family together and we do the full party hats and crackers, and a full Christmas dinner and games. And then we all do Secret Santa because we can’t be together on the actual day, so we do that whenever we can.
Then on the actual day, it’ll be just the three of us, or five including the dogs. The dogs aren’t usually allowed toys because they rip them to pieces – ours are dachshunds, they look beautiful but they rip everything to pieces – but on Christmas, we give them a toy and we watch while they tear it apart and then we say, ‘Right, good. That’s your Christmas present, you got to kill Teddy Santa!’ or whatever the hell we give to them.
Paapa Essiedu, star of TV shows ‘I May Destroy You’ and ‘The Capture’
Sometimes I go back to Ghana for Christmas. I really like doing that because I hate the grey and the cold. My favourite London Christmases have been when it’s really cold and it snows – when it looks a little bit like it does in a Richard Curtis Christmas movie.
I’ve also just moved to a new house, so I’m excited about the idea of maybe cooking a Christmas meal for the first time myself.
Richard Curtis and Paapa Essiedu, star of Curtis’s festive flick ‘Genie’— (Getty/Shutterstock)
Richard Curtis, writer of films ‘Love Actually’ and ‘Notting Hill’
For many years, my family and I have spent Christmas in a kind of communal, mishmash up in Suffolk by the coast. So I’ll be doing that again and forever.
Harry Shearer, radio host and voice of ‘The Simpsons’
My wife, Judith Owen, created our Christmas routine some time ago. We gather some of our musical and/or comedy friends and produce a big “antidote to Christmas” show called Christmas Without Tears as a benefit. This year, it’s once again in New Orleans with proceeds going to the Innocence Project New Orleans, which frees improperly incarcerated individuals.
Simon Pegg keeps it low-key at Christmas— (Getty)
Simon Pegg, star of films ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and ‘Mission: Impossible’
My plans are to stay home and host. We live in an old house. It’s a very Christmasy house, so we’ll get it all decked up and then we get the folks around and we have a lovely sort of cosy fireside Christmas.
Andy Serkis, star of films ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Planet of the Apes’
We sort of alternate between hosting our families at home and going away, and this year [my wife] Lorraine [Asbourne]’s family and I are all going away to a hotel in the countryside to stay there for three days, because both of us have been working flat out.
Patricia Clarkson, star of films ‘Easy A’ and ‘Pieces of April’
We start rehearsals [for the West End’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night] in February, so I’m just getting to grips with the script now. But it’s impossible to learn [the character] Mary Tyrone in five weeks. It’s impossible. I’m hoping to learn Act One by the time I leave for Christmas, Act Two through Christmas vacation, and then I hope to get into Act Three in January. This is a necessity! There’s no other way around it.
Oscar nominee Patricia Clarkson is all work, no play this festive season— (Getty)
Rick Astley, musician behind ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’
We keep things pretty simple these days. Our daughter lives in Denmark (my wife is from there), so this year we’re going over there for about a week because my daughter has a new place with her fiancé. We’ll celebrate on Christmas Eve, because that’s how they do it in Europe.
Danish Christmases are very traditional, and a lot of it revolves around what you’re going to eat and drink. I’m not a wine snob but I know what I like. A production manager once told me, “Life is too short to drink s*** wine” – so I’d rather open a nice bottle every now and again and drink that. I don’t spend a fortune, but when Christmas is coming, I do start thinking about what we’re going to have.
Adam Brody, Leighton Meester and family can’t resist ‘Home Alone’— (Getty)
Leighton Meester, star of TV shows ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘8 Simple Rules’
I don’t resist the Christmas spirit too much. I mean, I’m not pumping Christmas music throughout the year and I’m not dying to come December, but we watch Home Alone all the time. I know it’s Christmassy, but it’s also just a good movie.
Marika Hackman, musician behind hits ‘Claude’s Girl’ and ‘Driving Under Stars’
For Christmas I am heading to the depths of Devon to spend time with my family and relax before chaos ensues in January.
