Catherine Zoll

Co-creator of Holkham by Candlelight

With my festive season full of room themes and decorating, Christmas at home is focused on all the things that make us happy as a family. For me, my husband and two daughters, it’s about making Christmas Day how all four of us want it to be. We see our family before and after, but on the day it’s just us. 
It’s also about the foods that we all love. Once the girls have opened presents, we’ll have a late breakfast. Then it’s a case of preparing the turkey, which we eat around four o’clock. We’ll go for a walk beforehand. We’ve got a campsite, Norfolk Brickyard, which is usually full but it’s one of the rare days when nobody is there. We try not to get into the car for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, so it’s very much about doing things close to home, like walking across the fields to the beach.
The four of us have a wreath competition in the lead-up to Christmas; we just look at what we’ve got in the garden. We don’t really adhere to traditional floristry, but we have a laugh. And we’ll make a gingerbread house, which always looks terrible. I have huge admiration for people who make them. 
I think everyone is looking forward to the kitchen disco at Holkham by Candlelight. Christmas can be quite a stressful time, so having the opportunity to let your hair down is hopefully therapeutic. One of the rooms I’m most excited about is the Statue Gallery – I’ve wanted to do an under-the sea-theme for a long time. We’ve got giant jellyfish, mermaids’ tails, buried treasure… 
www.holkham.co.uk

Joe Tracini

Writer and star of The All New Adventures of Peter Pan at Norwich Theatre Royal

I’ve been doing panto for 30 years, so on Christmas Day I have to be forced to do anything other than nothing. We have performances on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day so normally I’d keep quiet all day to save my voice, but when you are celebrating with people, they want to chat. 

I’ve only really appreciated Christmas since I met my girlfriend, Holly. There is a regimented system that goes on in her family’s house. The day centres around food, a lot of it, decorations and just being together. They are quite traditional – we go out and feed the reindeers late on Christmas Eve. I’m nearly 40 but I’m reliving my childhood. It’s lovely. I don’t carol-sing, but I do like listening to them.

I’ve done pantomime in a lot of cities, but I think Norwich has consistently lovely crowds. Peter Pan was the first panto I ever did. I’m very excited to bring it to Norwich. Hopefully I’ve tried to tell the story as best I can and give it a bit of meaning that you might not be expecting. I started writing it in January, so it’s very much a year-round job for me, which is a good place to be because I do like pantomime. I’ve always felt like it’s a part of me. I’m playing Smee this year. I’ve only ever been Peter, so I’m quite excited to have a bit of a rest from flying.

www.norwichtheatre.org

Tracy Jessop

Rector of Fakenham Parish Church 

After the wonderful busyness of Advent, the Christmas Tree Festival, the Crib and Christingle service, carol services, fairs and all the preparations that go into Christmas, Christmas Day itself is a chance to slow down. It’s a late night and then an early morning for me, so once I’ve finished services in our parishes, I love the simplicity of being at home with family. 

There is something rather lovely about settling into the familiar rhythms. We are fairly traditional: good food, crackers, a bit of television, and hopefully some time to simply enjoy being together. These shared rituals connect us with Christmases past as well as the people who are around us now.
For me, what makes Christmas special is that it gives us permission to pause. Church life is wonderfully full and ordinary life can be pretty hectic, too. Christmas interrupts all of that. It is a time to reflect on hope, love, generosity and making room for one another.
The Fakenham Christmas Tree Festival is a highlight of the season for me. It is a wonderful community celebration, with trees decorated by local groups, organisations, charities and individuals. There is always a lovely atmosphere. After a busy few weeks, it feels like a very fitting way to celebrate Christmas: lots of people, lots of creativity, a little bit of chaos, and at the centre of it all a reminder of the light and hope that Christmas brings.
www.fakenhamparishchurch.org.uk

John Cushing

Director and producer of Thursford Christmas Spectacular

Our Christmas Day is on Christmas Eve. Thursford museum and playground are still open, and we’re serving drinks. When it’s all finished, I’ll go home and my wife will have lit every single candle in the house. She cooks dinner with a turkey and a Christmas pudding, and we have certain traditions – I’ll read little poems at midnight and light a candle beside my mother’s photograph. We get to bed about three in the morning, so we rest on Christmas Day and go to a hotel for lunch. It’s our first Christmas as grandparents, which is special. 
It’s quite an emotional shock to adjust to the Christmas Spectacular ending. It’s something we’ve worked on the whole year and the night before Christmas Eve, it stops and within 20 minutes the building is empty. That takes a bit of getting used to, though I’ve had to do it for the past 48 years. 
We try not to go anywhere on Boxing Day. When you’ve been entertaining 2000 people a day for two months, you want the opposite of that. ‘Every day is a party, so on Boxing Day we’ll watch television and we always go for a walk.’
There are some lovely musical arrangements in this year’s Christmas Spectacular. I pick music I love and which makes me emotional, because in entertainment you have to make people cry as well as laugh. There’s also glitz, humour, spectacular costumes and dancing, and different speciality acts – we’ve got one coming straight from Vegas. All those facets of entertainment will come through. 
www.thursford.com

Tom Rolfe

Producer of Cinderella at Princess Theatre, Hunstanton

I produce pantomimes across the country so I’m always moving around panto world. For this year’s Cinderella in Hunstanton, we’ve got brand new scenery and costumes, a few familiar faces and some new faces. 
I’m performing in pantomime, too – I am playing Pinocchio in Yarm in Yorkshire. In panto, you usually do between 12 and 16 shows a week, so after the Christmas Eve show, you feel like it’s time for Christmas for you. I always describe it as a festive rush to get home – you’ve got Driving Home for Christmas on the radio, it’s all very nostalgic. 
I live in Teeside, where I also work as a Deacon in the Church. Often on Christmas Eve, after the shows are finished, we’ve got Midnight Mass. Then I’ll do the Christmas Day service, before I see my family for lunch. I leave the cooking to my nana. She gets the turkey and all the trimmings ready. She’s very kind, she just lets me turn up and eat it. I’ll have a sleep and then I’m gearing up for round two of the panto. 
There’s a different vibe after Christmas. The audience is in holiday mode – work’s finished, they’ve done the parties. As you go through the season, people get more and more relaxed. I think we’re all looking to switch off and pantomime is that opportunity to escape into a magical dream world and to make our worries disappear for a few hours. 
www.princesshunstanton.co.uk