HOW MANY FOR CHRISTMAS?!

November 10, 2025 (Double issue)

WOMAN'S OWN

With 3kg of potatoes to peel, Natalie Jackson, 45, sees every year as a miracle

Squeezing my chair around the dinner table, I felt an elbow in my right side, then an arm reached across me, almost knocking me in the face.

'Sorry Mum,' my daughter, Seren, then 14, said, reaching for the gravy that was in front of me.

There were fingers and hands everywhere, voices calling out for things to be passed down the table, and the sound of plates getting piled high. It was Christmas Eve 2024 and my family and I were having our festive feast a day early - something we've been doing for the past 13 years.

For me and my husband Oliver, 47, it's something that requires military planning and execution. A whopping 3kg of potatoes need to be peeled, four joints of meat need to be roasted and 100 Brussels sprouts need to be boiled. Because while most people only cook for a handful of guests, we have to feed more than a football team of people - with 13 kids, festive lunch in our house looks more like an all-inclusive buffet!

'WE FEED MORE THAN A FOOTBALL TEAM OF PEOPLE'

Me and Oliver wouldn't have it any other way though. In fact, when we first met in 2000, we both dreamed of having a big family one day and with Christmas being our favourite time of year, this was our idea of heaven.

WINGS OF LOVE

Oliver and I met at a work Christmas dinner when we both worked for the RAF - me in air traffic and Oliver, then 21, as an RAF officer. Dressed in a long Monsoon party dress, I'd got dolled up for the occasion and when I caught Oliver's eye at the bar, I couldn't help but laugh at his garish shirt with orange flames emblazoned on it. Chatting away while I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day blared in the background, we ended up dancing together and sharing a kiss under the mistletoe. It was like a scene from Love Actually.