Love Actually star Martine McCutcheon has told how she's looking forward to "a real Irish Christmas" this year.
The actress - who starred as Hugh Grant's love interest Natalie in the Christmas classic movie - told yesterday how her London-Irish family hails from Longford and Waterford.
She said: "It gets really loud around ours. We'll sing, open a cheeky present at midnight on Christmas Eve - and probably have a few too many G&Ts.
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“Even at the ripe old age of 46, I’m still a big kid. Myself and my sister still insist on having our stockings hung up at my mum’s house.
"I’ll never grow out of that tradition.”
Martine was speaking at the launch of a survey on festive family dramas, carried out by gift card company One4All.
She said her son Rafferty, 7, is too small yet to watch Love Actually - Leo Varadkar's favourite film - but she will let him see it in a few years.
She doesn't watch it herself when it comes on the TV every year, saying: "I can't watch myself! I find it too painful to see me on the big screen."
“I remember going to the premiere. I was all done up in my big dress and just squirmed behind my hands every time I came up.”
Speaking at the launch of the Christmas One4All campaign, the former Eastenders actress said that like the signature song from the movie, Love Is All Around her.
“I’m very lucky that my husband Jack is my best friend, my co-manager and co-parent.
"I think love is the closest thing to magic. We make a great team and I’m very lucky that we get to spend so much time together.”
Tragically, this festive season will also be shrouded with heartbreak for Martine, as it will be the first Christmas without her brother LJ, who died two months ago with, “no medical explanation.”
Martine now regularly speaks honestly about her grief to her 546,000 Instagram followers, and encourages those suffering heartache to, “be kind to yourselves. Grief isn’t linear. It’s very up and down. And we all grieve differently.”
“I sometimes feel bad for having a good day, it can be bittersweet. But I know LJ is pushing me on and would want the best for me.”
“We’ll just take things bit-by-bit and day-by-day for now.”
The One4all Gift Card is a multi-store gift card that can be spent with over 12,000 retailers nationwide.
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