{"id":18019,"date":"2013-12-22T21:59:16","date_gmt":"2013-12-22T21:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.toyah.net\/?p=18019"},"modified":"2013-12-22T22:45:30","modified_gmt":"2013-12-22T22:45:30","slug":"christmas-countdown-toyah-talks-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toyah.net\/ds\/christmas-countdown-toyah-talks-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Countdown: Toyah Talks Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"sunexp13c\"<\/a>
\nA trio of festive articles from Christmases past. Christmas Memories from ‘No. 1’ magazine in 1983, Star Surprises from ‘Celebs’ magazine in 2005, and a Christmas feature from ‘Sunday Express’ magazine in 2008 (which included a festive illustration by Daniel Mitchell).<\/span><\/p>\n

O come, All Ye Faithful: Sunday Express (21st December 2008)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The festive season isn’t just about parties and presents, even for the stars. Gillian Rowe talks to some well-known people about where they worship on Christmas Day, and what the occasion means to them.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Toyah Willcox<\/strong>: Each Christmas Eve my husband Robert and I go to the midnight carol service at my local parish church. I’m normally working over Christmas, singing at rock concerts or appearing in panto, so I find myself rushing home from wherever I am to get to the service on time. The church is full to the rafters, with 300 people or more, and everyone takes communion.<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe in remembering the Christian values of Christmas, which for me are about bringing a community together and celebrating the birth of all children. Also, for me, Christmas is more important than the New Year as a time to look over what you have achieved in the previous 12 months.\u00a0<\/span>I love singing Silent Night and Away In A Manger. I first sung them at school, and we were all so innocent then. There was no persecution, terrorism or religious hatred when I was growing up in Birmingham. Of course, the history of Christianity, like many religions, is peppered with violence, but for me the principles of Christianity are sound. I think it’s important for children to be taught the power of prayer, the importance of community and compassion. For me a carol service awakens this in all children.<\/span><\/p>\n

Star Surprises: Our Fave Gifts: Celebs Magazine (December 2005)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The celebs reveal all about the very best pressies they’ve ever found under the Christmas tree. Amazingly, they aren’t all diamonds and sports cars.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

TOYAH WILLCOX<\/span><\/strong> ‘A lifesize terracotta statue of a horse and warrior. On Christmas day in 1991, my husband insisted I walk around the garden and there it was. I still love it.’<\/span><\/p>\n

Christmas Memories: No. 1 (24th December 1983)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

What was the best Christmas you ever had?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The best Christmases ever was when I was a kid because I had the security of my family and all the traditions were kept. I used to get tons and tons of pressies. Up until the age of ten I was having really good christmases. I spent one Christmas in complete euphoria after doing the Drury Lane Whistle Test which was two years ago. It was such a wonderful night.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Continue reading Christmas Memories at Dreamscape’s Press Archive<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A trio of festive articles from Christmases past. Christmas Memories from ‘No. 1’ magazine in 1983, Star Surprises from ‘Celebs’ magazine in 2005, and a Christmas feature from ‘Sunday Express’ magazine in 2008 (which included a festive illustration by Daniel Mitchell). O come, All Ye Faithful: Sunday Express (21st December 2008) The festive season isn’t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18022,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[981],"tags":[987],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toyah.net\/ds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18019"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toyah.net\/ds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toyah.net\/ds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toyah.net\/ds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toyah.net\/ds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18019"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/toyah.net\/ds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18035,"href":"https:\/\/toyah.net\/ds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18019\/revisions\/18035"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toyah.net\/ds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toyah.net\/ds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toyah.net\/ds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toyah.net\/ds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}