Celebs dine out on Christmas

Dec 21 2009 By Kate Whiting

It's that time of the year again, when the celebs open their doors and reveal what they'll be doing this Christmas, as well as memories of the best - and worst - ever festive season. This year Michael Caine, Dannii Minogue, Harry Connick Jr and Armstrong and Miller are among those spreading some Christmas cheer.

Ben Miller, 43, comedian

"I'd love to spend Christmas Day with my family, I can't think of anything worse than not spending it with your family. I'm not one of those people who hates Christmas because they can't stand seeing their family. You do hear that kind of thing, 'Oh God I've got to go and see so and so...' I'm very into all that, I love seeing my sisters and nieces and nephews and my parents and all that kind of thing. It's all about family."

Michael Caine, 76, actor

"I am one of the best producers of Christmas I know and the reason for that is I grew up during the war, so I had six years of nothing for Christmas. Directly I got any money, Christmas became the big thing and my wife now says, 'You've brought too much of this, you've bought too much of that'. I'm psychotic because I'm trying to make up for the 12 Christmases I didn't have. At Christmas during the war, we used to have an orange and a banana for Christmas, that was the only time we got them in a year. Needless to say, these days, the entire house is smothered in oranges. I'm a Christmas nut."

Alesha Dixon, 31, Strictly Come Dancing judge

"I'm going to be chilling at home with my family. I'm probably going to take a holiday - I'm going to go on a girly holiday and just relax, get some sun and chill out before I come back to work in January and start working on album No 2."

Alexander Armstrong, 39, comedian

"I love every Christmas. At the time you always think, 'Oh, this isn't very Christmassy!' But the Christmassy bit doesn't happen until you look back with at least a year's distance and then by the time it's the next year, you think, 'Ooh, last year was very Christmassy'. I'm one of those infuriating people...lots of people have misgivings about Christmas because it's stressful and blah blah blah. Not me, I love Christmas, I think it's fabulous. Having children makes a huge difference, because once again you start to see it through their eyes a little bit and you have the perfect excuse to sit down and watch rubbishy Christmas films. Any day now, I can sit down and watch Ghostbusters and Home Alone and Gremlins - it gets you in the spirit of things."

Ray Winstone, 52, actor

"I'll be home for Christmas. I've been away a couple of times at Christmas. When you're working away quite a lot, it's nice to be home so Christmas Day, we'll roast a turkey obviously, with Yorkshire puddings, cauliflower cheese, all the business. Family and mates come around. With New Year's Eve, we might go down the road to this fish restaurant we know, where we'll have a little quartet in there with all the family. I don't usually go out on New Year's Eve because it's for the young people and we'll stay in the kitchen. Jaime and Lois are all grown up - they don't care about Mum and Dad, and the little 'un (Ellie), she's 8, so she'll be with us."

Mr Hudson, 30, R&B artist

"Christmas equals sleep for me. I'm looking forward to doing nothing. We've been travelling so much. I think I'll probably just sit on the sofa and watch DVDs and drink some Scotch and chat to my folks, go for a couple of long walks, play the piano. That's normally what I do at Christmas - I end up on the piano, in theory playing Christmas carols but probably ending up working through some soft rock ballads, whatever. My mum will just shout out, 'Living On A Prayer!'... 'All right, mum!'"

Martin Clunes, 48, actor

"It's going to be a big family Christmas. We've been building onto our west Dorset farmhouse for two years and the builders will be gone by Christmas, they assure me. We have a big extended family, and this year, they're coming to our new house and I can't wait. All my nieces and nephews and the in-laws, it's going to be great."

Diversity, Britain's Got Talent winners

"We always keep practising but we'll mainly all chill out and relax. We've got things happening right up to Christmas so we'll really enjoy doing as little as possible."

Rick Parfitt, 61, Status Quo

"I'm looking forward to seeing the kids and the missus. I'll have six weeks doing nothing, I won't touch a guitar for six weeks after Christmas either. We'll probably sing some old songs. It's more likely I'll pick up the ukulele these days actually."

Harry Connick Jr, 42, singer

"I love Christmas. I don't have plans this year. We have Thanksgiving in the States, so I'll be going down to New Orleans to see my dad down there. I think we'll spend it at home with my wife and three girls, relax and chill out."

John Hurt, 69, actor

"I won't be doing anything Ritzy. I'm hoping my kids will come up to me in Norfolk. We don't really have any traditions, because it's all been a bit split up and all over the place during the years. I've been with my wife seven years now, and we've had different Christmases every time. We don't really have any traditions like that."

Martine McCutcheon, 33, actress

"My boyfriend (Jack McManus) was saying he'd like to whisk me off to somewhere snowy. We'll have a nice romantic Christmas in a log cabin somewhere.

"My best Christmas should have been a disaster but it was funny, at my mum's in the Dordogne. She'd forgotten to sort out the heating so we were all absolutely frozen. We ran out of gloves so we had socks on our hands. I had a great big tea cosy on my head. The pictures are hilarious - it was one of the funniest Christmases ever."

Jackie Collins, 72, author

"My best Christmas was having my entire family at my house in LA, the sunshine, the kids swimming in the pool and cooking lunch for 25 people."

Paul O'Grady, 54, TV personality

"Christmas is for children. It's only as you get older you get a cynical eye on things. I remember one where I woke up one morning and there was an enormous Popeye peering at me from the pillowcase.

"I was Popeye mad - still am - I went crazy for this thing. I got a Popeye and an Olive Oyl and funnily enough I never bothered with Olive. I've still got her, she's untouched. Popeye fell to bits. I played with it that much - but Olive... not so keen."

Pete Waterman, 62, music mogul

"I have a very quiet, traditional time at Christmas. My son Pete and I split the cooking. There may only be two of us but we set the table and sit down together in our best bib and tuckers. We tend not to watch television at all. I like to be in bed on Christmas Day at about 10.30pm because that's when I catch up on sleep. We listen to a lot of old radio, Round The Horn and Clitheroe Kid. Last Christmas we listened to 82 episodes of the Clitheroe Kid."