As some wag once said: “First you believe in Father Christmas, then you don’t, then you become Father Christmas...” And all of us too have our own very special memories of this festive celebration. Whether it’s of a gift, a magical moment, or just a special feeling, Christmas remains an anchor in our otherwise furiously busy lives. And just for you, and to get you properly in the yuletide spirit, we’ve caught up with some of Oxford’s best known celebrities to find out just what their favourite memory of Christmas is...

* Raymond Blanc – “As a child growing up in Besancon, Christmas was always white.

“Before lunch, the young ones (that included me) would leave the house and, through a raging blizzard, we’d take our sledges and head for the peak of the hill that brought you into the village. Then we’d zoom down it, from the top of the village and right the way through it.

“Christmas was magical. Meanwhile, the women, led by my mother, would busy themselves in the kitchen.

“If I entered I’d be ordered to help, be it chopping, cutting or preparing vegetables.

“Invariably, Christmas lunch would begin with white asparagus that had been preserved, served with mayonnaise, followed by escargots. The snails, which had been gathered by me and my brothers, were finished off with parsley butter and garlic.

“Uncles, aunts, cousins, friends and grandparent would sit round the large table while dishes would keep arriving until the main course: a substantial plump goose. Lunch finished at about seven o’clock. As a child I felt that it went on a bit too long as we had to stay at the table all the way through.

“The reward always was the arrival of the buche de Noel, Chocolate log. Whilst the woman headed back to the kitchen, the men would remain at the table and talk more about sex and politics!”

* Colin Dexter (author of Morse and all-round good guy) – “I remember one particular Christmas because I got a railway engine. That was a long time ago, probably in the late 1930s.

“I also remember one Christmas when I got a book token from one of my aunts when I was about ten – I didn’t even know what a book token was. It wasn’t for very much, probably about 10 shillings.

“I went to the only bookshop in the town, a place called Dolby’s and that’s where I bought a collection of poems by Siegfried Sassoon.

“I remember having this present and that’s the first book I ever bought for myself. My parents only had three books at home.

“Another fond memory of Christmas was when my father, who was a taxi driver, used to come along to the local school, and he came along every Christmas with a beard on and we all knew who it was because everybody says he would have the same shoes on as the year before.

“That’s when everybody stopped believing in Santa Clause...”

* Philip Pullman (author of the fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials) – “I can remember a couple of Christmases I enjoyed very much. We were in my grandfather’s house in Norfolk and all the family were there - my brothers, uncles and aunts.

“I remember I got things I especially wanted like a fountain pen. I would have been about eight. “More recently was a time when all the family were together again, but this time it was all my children and grand-children. It was so good because everyone was there.

l Sophie Grigson (celebrity chef and director of Sophie Grigson’s Pop-up Cookery School) – “It’s really hard to pick out one favourite Christmas, but it probably has to be any of the Christmases when my children were young.

“The excitement and enthusiasm of young children brings the whole event alive.

“I love carol services and mince pies and mulled wine, and on Christmas day, that moment when the lights go down and the flaming pudding is borne in its full glory.

“One cold and snowy winter, Israeli friends came to stay, and their sheer delight in discovering our Christmas traditions made every moment seem shiny and new.

“In complete contrast I adored my first Christmas abroad, in Thailand – Christmas breakfast of exotic fruit in the precincts of a temple, lunch under a flyover surrounded by hawkers stalls, washed down by a bottle of tepid Chablis, lots of cottonwool snow decorating the racks of bootleg cassettes (this was a long time ago) and fake Rolexes. Fabulous.”

* Jim Rosenthal, TV sports presenter and former Oxford Mail sports reporter – “Christmas is a time for kids and nothing can top the memory of a family ski-ing holiday to Switzerland when I was eight years old.

“My mum and dad and sisters, Jackie and Julia, took the ferry from Dover to Calais... slept on a train that took us across France and into Switzerland and arrived at a village called Zuoz not far from St Moritz on Christmas Eve, just in time to get kitted out for the slopes.

“On Christmas Day I was one of the first up the mountain on the lift...the sky was blue...the snow was perfect and I skied blissfully all day before coming back to the hotel to open the presents...

“I might have taken the odd tumble, perhaps the weather was grey and the snow patchy – but I’ve never let the facts get in the way of a good story...

“That was my perfect Christmas Day!”

* Oxford United goalkeeper Ryan Clarke – “It’s impossible to pick out one Christmas that was my best-ever – I loved every one as a child.

“But it’s amazing how it all changes, because as soon as you become a professional footballer, you just don’t get a Christmas at all.

“There are games every Boxing Day which means you are training on Christmas Day every year and so it's impossible to celebrate.

“But those are the sacrifices you have to make – so enjoy them all while you are young!”

* Andy Whing, Oxford United defender – “It’s all about spending time with family, getting aunties, uncles, grandparents and siblings all together – the best Christmases are always when you can get everyone together.

“They can be scattered all over the country these days, but it’s the one day of the year you can bring them to the same place. We all go back to Birmingham, which is great.

“We tend to be one of those families who slump in front of the TV, but my other half’s side like to get the board games out, so I think it’ll be a bit of both this year.

“As a footballer we’re often away preparing for a game on Boxing Day, so you have to work hard to fit it all in, but it does make that time you spend with them extra special.”

* Leon Craig who plays Dame Doris Donut in the Oxford Playhouse panto Dick Whittington – “My favourite Christmas memory is the nights getting dark and everyone getting in the festive mood.

“I used to absolutely love going to see Father Christmas in the grotto. I just love everything about Christmas. I remember being younger and getting up early in the morning on Christmas day, having a christmassy breakfast but also smelling the Christmas dinner being made and the turkey and lots of other delicious things being cooked…seeing all the family and opening all the presents and seeing everyone happy and having a wonderful day!! “I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!”

* Peter Duncan, writer and director of Dick Whittington (but best known as a much-loved Blue Peter presenter) – “When I was a child my parents would put on and be in pantomimes which would open on Boxing Day so Christmas Eve was dress rehearsal day and Christmas Day was taken up with final preparations such as prop making, costume alterations as well as learning half remembered lines! In 1967 the snow was so heavy nobody could reach the theatre but the Beatles The Magical Mystery Tour was first broadcast which added to my already eccentric and unpredictable childhood!

* Laurie Scarth who plays Alice in Dick Whittington – “My favourite Christmas memory is that we would wake up ridiculously early, open up our stockings but then we were never allowed downstairs until my dad had gone downstairs and arranged everything...(and whilst the camcorder was set up!) This would mean sitting on the landing for quite some time until a reasonable hour.... 7am? “It was always worth it though! I remember that when I was six I got lots of presents as usual but I was more excited about my brother’s new BMX bike which was wrapped up in the corner in the perfect shape of a bike but my brother and I didn’t have a clue what it was...”