A Royal Family Christmas with Marie-Chantal

I love the holiday season; it is my favourite time of the year – a time to be cosy at home with all of my family. The festivities always kick off the day after Thanksgiving. Winter-scented candles will be lit around the house and the decorations and Christmas cheer start soon after. I always decorate the kitchen with advent calendars and have fun Christmas candy, and decorations all around.

Our Christmas decorations are a mixture of subtle pieces and full-on maximalism. I’ll start off with a big Christmas tree covered with large pine cones and fairy lights. The tree always goes up in the first week of December and slowly, as the family gets together, we finish the decorations. I love to be reunited with all of my favourite ornaments. I’ve been collecting a few over the years and, as a family, the annual tradition of dressing the tree is one that everyone still looks forward to. I also love Christmas wreaths with sprigs of pine, more pine cones and cinnamon sticks, as well as winter berries, oranges and holly. There’s nothing better than that smell of Christmas.

I love gift-giving and buying gifts for friends and the little ones in our family – some of my favourite pieces this year are our Liberty Print Gift Set, perfect for a little girl, our Holiday prints: Christmas Dogs and Skating Elves prints and, of course, our signature Angel Wing sleepsuits in festive colours of burgundy and navy velour.
You can’t go wrong with a pair of our cosy pyjamas and Angel Wing fleece robes. Our best-selling Aristidis wooden hairbrush makes for a lovely stocking filler. Your baby’s first hairbrush is something they will cherish forever.

We spend most of our time in New York, and December there is magical – from the beautiful ice rink in Central Park or Rockefeller Plaza to a performance of The Nutcracker and the Christmas show performed by the Rockettes at Radio City Hall.

As with any city, it’s also the festive lights that make it so special, but I have to say that London does it best with [Christmas fair] Winter Wonderland and all of the festive decorations.

This year, we will be in England, cosy in the country – I am so looking forward to all being together. The dogs are always the first up in the morning – we are a family of dog lovers – so they typically dictate the start of the day. Next, it's time for some gifts. Personalised stockings line our fireplace – a tradition that I hope will always remain, no matter how old my children are! Then we always start at the breakfast table with the whole family – I’ve written a book called Manners Begin at Breakfast and firmly believe that family meals are the best way to bond with your children. Some of my fondest early memories are of sitting around the kitchen table with my parents and siblings.
Since I was a little girl, I have always loved pretty table settings. My mother would dress the most beautiful tablescapes, which always stayed with me. For the holidays, I’ll decorate the table with tiny potted Christmas trees, pine cones, and for flowers it would be red ranunculus, and some of the family’s silver scattered around. It’s also time to bring out the candlesticks to give the table a pretty glow. A few mini nutcracker decorations make an appearance – I do love a fun and whimsical table.

Christmas Day is a time to be cosy at home. We will all be dressed in my new ‘match your mini’ collection of pyjamas and robes. As I like to say, "Life’s better cosy, especially on Christmas morning." The day after Christmas, we will most likely go for a long walk with the dogs followed by another delicious family lunch.

Main image of Marie-Chantal by photographer Ngoc Minh Ngo

All other images by Marie-Chantal