The Last Christmas as a spinster of the parish

Thank goodness it's Christmas. We are both shattered and in desperate need of a break and a bottle of Baileys. Each.

And I think this is the last long break we'll get before the serious wedding countdown commences. In our head, once the annual mincepie-fest is over it will be all systems go on the organising front. I'm a bit scared.

In fact the bizarre wedding dreams have already begun...no makeup and a creased torn dress on the day...fiance replaced by an incredibly ugly stranger...I sincerely hope these aren't premonitions.

But before I can completely slip into worry mode, we are gonna aim for a relaxing Christmas. And as it's our last one as 'unmarrieds' we decided to do something a bit different. Because our families are scattered the length and breadth of England, our Christmas usually feels like we are on tour. 50% of it is spent on motorways and continually playing Chris Rea's 'driving home for christmas' doesn't make it any more festive. Then of course we have to take it in turns spending Christmas Day itself with each parent. And feeling a bit crap about it.

So this year we thought sod it. We hired a large cottage in our favourite corner of the Lake District and invited everyone to join us. Siblings, parents, aunt and uncle. As it turned out only the parents (and Josh) could make it, but actually, that means a nice total of 7 of us. And a roaring log fire, 3 outstanding pubs within a 2 minute walk and the most amazing scenery and the most stunningly beautiful walks you could ever hope to find.

In my head I see it a bit like Wham's Last Christmas video (without the mullets, bad jumpers, snow and iffy story line about giving your heart away to someone you shouldn't) in the sense that it will be as Christmas should be. Traditional. Drunken. Greedy. Relaxing. Happy.

In reality, the cooker will probably be too small for the turkey, snow and ice will prevent at least 2 of us getting there at all and Josh will be running around in his the new pants that he had for his birthday last week, which are emblazoned with the phrase 'monkey business'. Which is about as traditional as it gets!