An electrician who has celebrated Christmas every day for 33 years has said that “celebrating Christmas is much better” than his “boring” day job and estimates that he has eaten more than 14,000 turkeys since he started his lifestyle in 1993.
Andy Park, 63, who lives in Melksham, Wiltshire, has dubbed himself Mr Christmas in light of his bizarre lifestyle of making every day Christmas Day.
Complete with a full turkey roast, presents, Christmas cards, Christmas films and even re-runs of the King and Queen’s speeches, Andy, who is single and has a daughter, three grandchildren and a great-grandchild, has said that he “never wants to stop” his entire life revolving around Christmas.
“I’ve eaten 14,116 turkeys since 1993, and of course I’ve drunk 12,160 bottles of Champagne, and 11,601 bottles of sherry,” Andy told PA Real Life.
“Twelve thousand two hundred and seventy nine squirty creams, one and a half million Brussels sprouts, and one and a quarter million mince pies…
“Everything you do on Christmas Day, I do every day.”
Andy, aka Mr Christmas, has been celebrating Christmas every day since 1993 (Zoe Head-Thomas/PA Real Life)
All year round, Andy’s home in the small rural town of Melksham is decked out with Christmas trees, tinsel and fairy lights.
Even in the summer heat, he spends his afternoons cooking a full turkey dinner with all the trimmings, sipping on sherry instead of a morning coffee and enjoying a glass of Champagne before he sits down at his cracker-laden table for his lunch.
He has made a name for himself as Mr Christmas, welcoming celebrities including Roy Wood of Wizzard, the band behind the Christmas hit I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday, The Only Way Is Essex star Joey Essex, broadcaster Eamonn Holmes, pop star Lulu and chef Gino D’Acampo into his home, the latter even helping cook his daily Christmas dinner.
For Andy, a typical day starts at about 8am, when he unwraps the Christmas presents that he bought himself the day before.
He estimates he has eaten one and a half million Brussels sprouts over the years (Zoe Head-Thomas/PA Real Life)
Often these are small trinkets – a new Christmas jumper, a quirky bit of bric-a-brac – but he does occasionally treat himself, with previous big presents including a Fender Stratocaster guitar and a Mercedes car.
He will also open his Christmas cards, which he posts through his own front door. He used to send them through the post, but the rising cost of postage meant that he switched to delivering his own cards.
After enjoying some mince pies and a tipple of sherry, “rather than a biscuit and a cup of coffee”, he gets ready for his part-time job as an electrician working on domestic appliances and heads out for work until late morning.
At about 11am he will begin preparing his Christmas lunch.
“It’s a full turkey roast, roast potatoes, lots of sprouts and carrots and turnips, stuffing balls, sometimes I have pigs in blankets,” he said.
“If I’ve got someone coming to the house for Christmas Day, which could be any day of the year, I up it a little bit: buy a little bit extra, and make it a bit more special.
“I always have a glass of Champagne, a few mince pies, and a bit of Christmas cake.”
Andy posts his Christmas cards through his own front door (Zoe Head-Thomas/PA Real Life)
At 3pm he pauses the lunch prep and sits down to watch the King’s Christmas message, or one of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s, from over the years.
“Every time I watch it, it seems to get better,” he said.
“I toast the Queen, of course, when I hear the national anthem at the end of the speech.”
After lunch Andy will head into the town centre to pick up his Christmas presents for the following day before settling down on the sofa to watch a Christmas film.
His favourites are It’s A Wonderful Life, The Santa Clause starring Tim Allen, and Robin Williams’ Mrs Doubtfire – “I know it’s not a Christmassy film, but it always gets shown at Christmas!”
When all is said and done and it is time for bed, Andy said that he “can’t wait to get up next morning to open the presents and do it all over again”.
He watches the King or Queen’s speech every day at 3pm (Zoe Head-Thomas/PA Real Life)
For most of us, Christmas is a time for indulgence and treats, but Andy said that making Christmas his daily habit has meant that he needed to cut back a bit for the sake of his health.
“When I started celebrating Christmas back in ‘93, I was 12 stone. I went up to 18 stone a few years later, and I thought ‘Crumbs, I’ve got to do something about this’,” he said.
“I told the doctor, and he just said ‘Well, I know you love your Christmas dinners, just cut down on everything. Maybe instead of having 11 roast spuds – that’s what I was having – have three or four. Don’t have so much cream on your Christmas puds, things like that’.
“Now I’m a cool 15 and a half, 16 stone and feel very fit. I do a lot of walking, cycling. I am a little bit careful.”
He gets mince pies delivered year-round by a local baker (Zoe Head-Thomas/PA Real Life)
Throughout the town, Andy is well-known as the man who celebrates Christmas every day – he even has a local baker bringing him fresh mince pies throughout the year, delivering up to 100 pies to last him through the week, and he said “they are better than the ones I can buy in the shops”.
He did once try to put a stop to his daily Christmas celebrations, about seven years ago, at the request of his daughter Caz.
“My daughter said ‘Dad, you’ve really got to stop celebrating Christmas every day. You’re putting on a little bit of weight, your house is crazy’,” he said.
“I said, ‘I’ll take all the decs down, especially for you’, and I took the trees out as well.
“It lasted two days, and I just had to put them back up because I’d come in that door and it looks so bare, so boring. I’m used to the lights and the tinsel, everything’s twinkly, there are presents under the tree, crackers here, there, and everywhere.
“I just had to put it all back.”
All year round, Andy’s home is decked out with tinsel and fairy lights (Zoe Head-Thomas/PA Real Life)
Andy has no plans to stop being Mr Christmas. He hopes to one day achieve a cameo on his favourite soap, Coronation Street, to host This Morning’s Alison Hammond for a Christmas day, and even add to his repertoire of recorded Christmas songs – including his flagship record, It’s Christmas Every Day – with a hit alongside Robbie Williams.
“It’s great for me, makes me feel good,” he said.
“I have a laugh, I’m not hurting anybody. My grandchildren love it, they love coming over here and opening all the presents.
“It’s made me a nice, chilled-out person. I feel very chilled out because I’ve been doing this, and I never want it to stop.”
Find out more about Mr Christmas on his website here: www.mrchristmas.online.