Peter Andre’s wife Emily’s unusual family ritual as she shares plans for baby Arabella's first Christmas

As Emily MacDonagh and her husband Peter Andre prepare for a fun-filled Christmas with their newest addition Arabella, the doctor shares her plans and traditions for the festive season.

It’s going to be a busy time in the Andre household this Christmas, with Peter Andre and his wife Emily gearing up to make it extra special thanks to the new addition to their family earlier this year.

The couple, who will be celebrating 10 years of marriage next summer, welcomed their baby daughter Arabella in April – a little sister for Amelia, 10, and eight-year-old Theo, plus the trio’s older siblings, Junior, 19, and Princess, 17. Chatting exclusively to us about all things Christmas and family traditions, Emily reveals she has a very special festive plan in mind for Arabella. “It’ll be a Christmas at home for us, a very chilled one,” says Emily, 35. “It’s the first Christmas for the little one and she won’t understand it, but I will so I’m going to enjoy it! I’m going to dress her up as a little Christmas pudding. I’ve got it all planned.”

NHS doctor Emily and singer Peter, 51, announced the pregnancy in October last year, and told OK! it was their “Christmas wish”. Catching up with Emily at Winter Wonderland in London, we ask her if she’s got all her festive season shopping under control. Not quite, she admits, as having a new baby has thrown a bit of a spanner in the Christmas preparation works.

“I haven’t started my shopping yet – I need to sort that out,” she confesses. “I’m feeling really festive now, we always wait to get Theo’s birthday done until we start the festivities.”

But when it comes to their family Christmas traditions, Emily, who is also an author and influencer, has it all worked out. Her favourite tradition, she says, involves cutting up old tights. The practice was passed down from her paediatrician mum Rebecca and her surgeon dad Ruaraidh.

“It’s my favourite tradition, we do weird stockings, stockings in tights,” she explains. “We cut tights in half and fill them. We’ve always done it since I was a child – no idea why, but we love it.”

Christmas traditions have become especially important for Peter, because he only started celebrating the festivities once he became a father himself. His parents, Savvas and Thea, raised Peter and his siblings as Jehovah’s Witnesses. The movement does not celebrate religious festivals usually marked by other Christian faiths, such as Christmas or Easter.

Speaking previously about how Emily has brought Christmas spirit into the family, he said, “We have lots of traditions – like Elf On The Shelf – but I’ve got to admit, Emily introduced them. I’m still kind of new at this because I grew up in a very religious household and we didn’t celebrate Christmas. So the festive spirit is down to Emily. Oh, and Santa, of course…”

While Peter doesn’t feel he missed out growing up, because it was all he knew, he said seeing his own children’s delight in the celebrations is wonderful. “Now the kids are going through it, I get to live it through them, and it’s beautiful,” he said. “It may even be more special because it’s their first time but it’s also mine.”

The run-up to Christmas is a busy time for another special reason, as Theo celebrates his birthday on 22 November. The youngster turned eight this year, and Emily marked it with an emotional post on her socials.

Alongside a sweet snap of Theo standing on a beach, she wrote, “My gorgeous boy is 8 today. I actually can’t believe where the time has gone! Theo you are the kindest and loveliest boy we could ever ask for. Love you so much and happy birthday.”

While the couple choose not to show their youngest three children’s faces on social media, there’s been a spike in their fun family content recently, with cooking demos and pumpkin carving videos posted online.

Peter also teased recently that they were considering an Andre family podcast. Elaborating on his off-the-cuff comment on his Instagram page, he said, “We’ve been asked a few times to do one as a family and I think it could be the right time. Even though we are all super busy, this would be fun. We need to decide if it’ll just be audio or video. All the kids will be involved including baby Arabella, so watch this space.”