Peter Andre has said that spending time with his children at Christmas makes the festive season ‘incredibly special’ – but it’s not his favourite time of the year.
The 49-year-old is father to son Junior, 17, and daughter Princess, 15 – who he shares with ex-wife Katie Price – and daughter Amelia, eight, and son Theo, six – who he shares with wife Emily Andre.
Speaking exclusively to Metro.co.uk, Peter said: ‘There’s something incredibly special about Christmas Day and all of the incredibly special things that happen.
‘Of course, we follow the traditions. We put out stuff for Santa and the reindeer the night before and the kids get all excited.
‘That’s what gets me through the cold period, the build up is nice,’ he continued. ‘But then the 26th comes and everyone’s like, “oh my gosh, get me to the sunshine.”
‘I do try every year, because of my mum and dad, to get to Australia, that’s always something I really look forward to.
‘Although this year we haven’t. We are going for the end of January, but we are working on that as we speak.’
The Mysterious Girl hitmaker also detailed how his elder children are now the age where they are spoiling him when it comes to gift-giving during the festive season.
‘Princess is already done,’ he told us as we spoke earlier this month. ‘She got everybody’s presents way in advance. I was very slow this year.
‘Interestingly, Junior asked if we can go and do some Christmas shopping together. How sweet is that? It’s the first year he’s ever said that. I think maybe it’s because he’s got his car.’
However, Peter revealed that a whole host of illnesses have made their way into the Andre household just before the big day.
He explained: ‘Millie had a 24-hour bug, which she passed on to Princess, who then passed it on to me. It was fine because I got over it very quickly.
‘But they carried on past the 24 hours, Princess ended up with tonsilitis, then Theo go tonsillitis and now Millie has got scarlet fever. But apart from that we’re all doing fantastically!’
The illnesses we pick up in the winter are one of the reasons for Peter teaming up with On The Beach to launch a campaign to get Andy Williams’ Christmas classic It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year banned from UK radio stations – saying it is factually incorrect.
‘It’s very tongue-in-cheek, Peter assured us. ‘We found out that 78% of Brits said that summer holidays are better than Christmas.
‘That’s very surprising when everyone thinks all the songs that are based around Christmas are about it being the most wonderful time. We need to get rid of that song or at least change the lyrics.
‘The most wonderful time of the year for me is summer, the second most wonderful time of the year for me is spring. This time of year is the third most wonderful time of the year, my least favourite is autumn. It’s third out of four, that’s not bad!’
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