How to do Christmas.

First take food, of course. Quality street by the handful, a platter of cheese that will stink out your fridge for the entirety of the festive period; all of the waist-increasing foods that scream out Christmas.

Take bracing walks, across the fields, through the town and past the river that define your childhood. Then, when you arrive home pull on your new fluffy slippers and curl up on the sofa with a hot chocolate. Cheeks flushed and fingers still icy.

Meet up with old friends and reminisce over what the past year has thrown at you all. Talk about summer, of waking in the cusp of the Italian mountains, of breathing in air so crisp it shocks the lungs. Listen as others describe their most memorable points of the year; au pairing in Africa, exploring the Canadian Rockies, spending a summer volunteering at an ER in San Francisco. However, in reality these conversations are only passing, for the most part talk about school, TV and the amusing anecdotes that come attached to university.

See New Year in with a bang. With friends, family, and the hum of Auld Lang Syne (emphasis on the word ‘hum’, nobody can ever remember the words anyway)

But of course, most importantly, come home.

To your family, to your bed, to waking up with the faint Christmas morning light seeping through your curtains.