Christmas with Sophie Conran

Christmas cooking…

I was just preparing for a Christmas party when you got in touch! The menu has anchovies on toast, bacalao fritters and fillet of beef with an incredible green salsa. I also had tarragon mayonnaise on the side. You can't have Christmas without mince pies or almond biscuits. All delicious!

Decorating the table…

I love cutting seasonal flowers with my Burgon & Ball secateurs and collecting them in a harvesting basket. I try to use plants that are in season and growing in my garden, so lots of berries, magnolia leaves and amaryllis. I also use a lot of anemones, which look equally lovely in big or little bunches. I’ll complete my table decoration with colourful candles and glassware. I sometimes pop tea lights into cut-glass holders, which bounce the light around beautifully, while silver beakers make everything look wonderfully sparkly.

I’ll be listening to…

I love sacred choral music at this time of year, pieces like Pie Jesu. I am delighted to be supporting @PrincesTrust Carol Concert, which will be held at St Paul's Cathedral this year. It promises to be a magical evening and all funds raised will go towards helping disadvantaged young people into education, training and employment.

I’ll be watching…

I love Slow Horses, which is absolutely brilliant and the best of British TV drama.

I’ll be wearing…

On Christmas Day I’ll wear a fabulous Isla dress by my daughter Coco Conran. She makes everything by hand and it is all made to order. I’ll also add a splash of Diorissimo as it reminds me of my dear dad. My first perfume was something called Blasé, which I had saved up for months to buy. I was about 10 years old and I have this memory of a car trip we took together. I was in the back of the car with a friend and we were squirting it around. He took it and threw it out the window! The next trip we took, he had bought me some Diorissimo and it was so much nicer.

My festive traditions...

Stockings are opened extremely early on Christmas morning, and then we’ll relax on the sofa opening gifts in the living room. We always have a big breakfast with lots of scrambled eggs and smoked salmon or other smoked fish – all eaten from my Mistletoe plates. And I always bake my own Christmas puddings and put silver sixpence into each one.

My festive treat...

A white truffle.

To me, Christmas means...

It is about getting friends and family together, relaxing and resetting. It is also about wintertime – the darkest and shortest days of the year – when we find warmth by celebrating and surrounding ourselves with people… and dogs of course!

How I give back...

Normally I give to Crisis. I’m also passionate about feeding people, and there are plenty of places where you can volunteer to cook or serve meals.