Have a holly Dolly Christmas! Chantelle Houghton braves Lakeside on Xmas Eve as she takes baby daughter to meet Santa

For most people, the thought of hitting the shops on Christmas Eve fills them with dread.

But Chantelle Houghton decided to ignore the warnings and take her baby daughter Dolly to meet Santa Claus at Lakeside Shopping Centre in Thurrock, Essex.

The 29-year-old reality star gazed adoringly at her little girl as she treated her to a trip to the grotto, where she is said to have promptly burst into tears upon seeing Dolly on Santa's knee.

Have a holly Dolly Christmas! Chantelle Houghton braved Lakeside shopping centre in Essex on Christmas Eve to treat her daughter to a meeting with Santa Claus

 

Overwhelmed: Dolly seemed slightly unsure at her festive surroundings, leaving Chantelle giggling at her daughter's reactions

 

Before heading inside to the grotto, Chantelle held her little girl, who was wearing a pink polkadot all-in-one, close and showed her the festive additions at the sight.

And Dolly, whose father is Chantelle's ex-fiancé Alex Reid, appeared slightly overwhelmed, with a bemused look on her face as she took in her surroundings.

After leaving the grotto, carrying a present given to Dolly by Santa, Chantelle made her way around the packed shopping centre to pick up her last few gifts.

Emotional: Chantelle is said to have burst into tears at the sight of Dolly sitting on Santa's lap, and held the little girl close as they headed out of the grotto

 

Pretty in pink: Dolly looked adorable in a pink and brown spotted onesie, while mum Chantelle opted for an all-black ensemble

 

The former Celebrity Big Brother star dressed down in an all-black outfit consisting of leggings, boots and a leather-look top with a black cardigan over the top.

Chantelle left her long blonde hair loose apart from pinning her fringe back, and went for a glamorous look with her make-up with red lipstick, nails and fake eyelashes.

This Christmas marks Dolly's first, and will be celebrated without her father Alex - following his less than amicable split from Chantelle and their acrimonious war of words ever since.

Not sure about this: Both Chantelle and Dolly looked slightly apprehensive ahead of going inside

The moment of truth: Chantelle hugs her little girl tight as the pair make their way into the grotto

But speaking in a recent interview, Chantelle said she is going to do her best not to let the situation get her down, and wants to make the holidays as special as possible for little Dolly.

She told new! magazine: 'I am (sad) in a way (that Alex won't be there), but it'll be fine without him. I don't know him anymore.'

Chantelle also spoke of her sadness that she wouldn't be getting an eternity ring for Christmas from Alex as a sign of commitment following Dolly's birth.

 

Last-minute: After their experience meeting Santa, Chantelle and Dolly did some last-minute shopping before heading home

She lamented: 'Obviously Alex should have bought me one, but he didn't. (When I read a friend had one) I actually felt really hurt and gutted and thought, "That's what he should have done for me."'

Chantelle's comments came after Alex spoke of his dream of waking up with Dolly on Christmas morning during an interview with Jeremy Kyle.

He said: 'I'm not in love with Chantelle but I love my kid and I don't wish her any harm. The best Christmas present ever would be waking up with my little girl.'

The rise of ironic Christmas jumpers

Until recently no fashionista would be seen dead in seasonal patterned knitwear, but now the kitsch style is a must-have for designers and celebrities alike. How did Christmas jumpers become so popular?

They might be embroidered with reindeer, or snowflakes, or a cheerful Father Christmas.

Knitted from variety of garish woollen hues, they look as though they are being worn to please a kindly but sartorially clueless grandmother.

Once any self-respecting young adult would have been horrified to open their wrapping paper and find they had been gifted such a garment.

But somehow Christmas sweaters have become not just acceptable, but cool - the gaudier the better.

Fashionable chains like Urban Outfitters and Topshop stock entire ranges of sweaters gaily adorned with holly, fir trees and so on.

High-end designers have got in on the act, too. Ralph Lauren sells asnowflake-patterned turtleneck for £785 ($1,277). One yellow-and-pink Stella McCartney creation featuring two prancing deer retails at $1,230 (£755).

Colin Firth in Bridget Jones's Diary - an unintentional style icon?

“Start Quote

He turned round, revealing that what had seemed from the back like a harmless navy sweater was actually a V-neck diamond-pattern in shades of yellow and blue - as favoured by the more elderly of the nation's sports reporters”

From Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

Celebrities as diverse as Kanye West, Cheryl Cole, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Matt Damon, Samantha Cameron and Snoop Dogg have all been pictured in various woollen improvisations on the theme.

Quite why trend-setters have decided that Andy Williams and Bing Crosby crooning festive ditties before a roaring fire, represent the ne plus ultra of style is surely one of fashion's more baffling mysteries.

For most people in the UK, the arresting visual impact of the Christmas jumper first registered when Renee Zellweger's protagonist of the 2001 film Bridget Jones's Diary was introduced to her suitor, Colin Firth's Mark Darcy, as he wore a roll-neck affair adorned with a giant reindeer's head.

In North America, the trend was already getting well under way. Ugly Christmas sweater parties - in which attendees compete to wear the vilest seasonal pullover - are thought to have first been held by students in Vancouver around the turn of the millennium.

The craze quickly spread across the continent. Undergraduates would scour their parents' wardrobes and second-hand clothes shops looking for the most hideous festive tops they could find.

A mini-industry of retailers sourcing or manufacturing especially tasteless garments quickly mushroomed.

Adam Paulson, a 30-year-old from Crown Point, Indiana, discovered this could be a profitable enterprise when he formed the online storeuglychristmassweaterparty.com in 2006 with two friends.

"The more stuff on the sweater, the more glittery and jangly it is, the more it will sell," he says.

But somewhere along the line the Christmas jumper phenomenon ceased to be about looking as dreadful as possible - a sort of yuletide version of Halloween - and became something that esteemed fashion designers and High Street shoppers alike could buy into.

Anne Marie Blackman, 52, of Vermont, sells sweaters online

"I had never heard of ugly Christmas sweaters but I found out there were these contests people would have to wear the ugliest. I thought, this is right up my alley. I could make sweaters that were even uglier.

"What's curious about it is how different ages do it. Ugly Christmas sweater parties were started by college kids in their 20s, but people who are older actually have these things in their closets."The change in emphasis has been attributed to the rise of that much-maligned archetype, the hipster - the young urban bohemian, attired in self-consciously quirky thrift-store clothes. Their visual aesthetic - tight jeans, over-sized glasses, garish second-hand T-shirts - was exemplified in the films of Wes Anderson and, in the UK, parodied in the Channel 4 satire Nathan Barley.

This subculture, growing in enclaves like Portland, Oregon, Williamsburg, New York and London's East End, was quickly appropriated by the mainstream.

The hipsters' fondness for all things twee and retro - baking cupcakes, riding fixed-wheel bikes, using Polaroid cameras instead of digital - meant Christmas jumpers could be re-cast as modish.

"The whole hipster movement definitely helped," says Paulson. "It started off with college-age kids. Now it's work parties."

In the UK, where ugly sweater parties had never quite caught on in the same way, the onset of the phenomenon was perhaps more sudden.

The popularity of Danish thriller The Killing - whose heroine, Sarah Lund, sported an array of knitwear, some of it snowflake-patterned - added to the garment's allure.

But even now, it isn't enough just to buy any old Christmas jumper, says former Clothes Show presenter Caryn Franklin.

To look fashionable, she says, one had to be doing it for the right reasons.

"It's hipsters that can wear it - they give it some edge," adds Franklin.

"The cooler brands like Topshop or Urban Outfitters can do it. But If Marks and Spencers were selling them, they wouldn't have the same credibility."

The Killing star Sofie Grabol, and Samantha Cameron

It's this idea that a simple pullover must be accessorised with a raised eyebrow has turned some against Christmas jumpers.

"It's not the jumpers I mind, it's the claim of 'irony'," writes Guardian fashion columnist Hadley Freeman, casting the UK's fondness for such garments as proof that many British men are "ashamed of genuine emotion".

Not just for Christmas

The Jewish festival of Chanukah or Hannukah takes place in December, and the lure of retro sweaters and cardigans knows no faith boundaries.

This ad is from the US company Geltfiend.com, which offers a range of Hannukah-themed knitwear - their slogans: "Because Jews get cold too", and "Everything is better in a Chanukah sweater!"

But Jonathan D Fitzgerald, author of Not Your Mother's Morals: How the New Sincerity Is Changing Pop Culture for the Better, believes there is nothing ironic at all about patterned woollens.

Instead, he argues Christmas jumpers and, more generally, the hipster preference for everything retro and vintage are deeply rooted in a longing for the heartfelt and the sincere.

While individuals might insist they are wearing a sweater ironically to give themselves an emotional get-out, Fitzgerald believes that deep down they are expressing a longing for the comforting certainties of a traditional Christmas.

"Nostalgia is a huge hipster virtue," he says. "This isn't about irony, it's about kitsch.

"This is about looking back to something nostalgic - 'Oh, my mom used to wear sweaters like that.' It's only people who are afraid to express the fact that they enjoy it who say it's ironic."

If Fitzgerald is correct, even the most achingly fashionably urban trendsetters are still hoping for a cosy family festive season.

It's enough to make you buy a new jumper to celebrate.

Myleene Klass keeps her legs and fingers crossed in short silver dress as she launches Christmas Day lottery raffle

After gracing television screens as a wondrous winter stylist Myleene Klass is back again.


The former pop star is fronting the Christmas Day EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle draw and looks simply splendid doing it.


Myleene, 34, looked like picture perfect as she was surrounded by oversized toys and Christmas decorations.

Good luck: Myleene Klass looked sensational in a silver dress as she starred in a EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle draw campaign

The mother-of-two wore an attention grabbing sleeveless silver dress as she sat on a gold box with her fingers crossed.


The beautiful brunette was at her sultry best as she sat amongst toy soldiers and big shiny baubles as she showed off plenty of leg.


Myleene's crossed fingers are part of her duties to wish lottery players good luck as they attempt to become one of 25 British millionaires on Christmas Day.

The National Lottery draw show host and radio presenter posed in a Christmas wonderland to remind players to get a ticket.

Looking good: Myleene was surrounded by Christmas presents as she kept her fingers and legs crossed

She said, 'I love Christmas, it is so exciting to see the presents under the tree. For 25 people there will be £1 million lurking among the wrapping paper which would surely be the ultimate Christmas present.  


'I have my fingers crossed for everyone - good luck.'


EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle makes a guaranteed UK millionaire every Tuesday and Friday. On Christmas Day this number will be boosted to mark the festive season with a bang and will give 25 lucky players the ultimate Christmas gift.

A EuroMillions spokesperson said: 'There will be lucky people unwrapping a lot more this Christmas Day with 25 millionaires guaranteed to be made. 


'The amazing draw will add to the 3,000 plus National Lottery millionaires all over the UK. Every draw also helps raise more money for National Lottery Good Causes here in the UK, so there will be lots of winners across the nation.'

Jingle bells: Myleene was in full festive spirit as she performed at the Save the Children's Christmas Tree Sessions at Union Chapel in London, earlier this week

 

A Klass Christmas: Myleene takes cute daughters Eva and Hero out in matching festive outfits

yleene Klass is already the envy of many women with her amazing body and great fashion sense.


And the mother-of-two showed that she has Christmas under control thanks to a couple of super cute well dressed helpers.


Myleene spread some festive cheer on Thursday as her two little daughters acted like pretty tiny elves as they walked around their neighbourhood in Hertfordshire.

With the former pop star taking on the role of Mrs Claus, Ava, five, and one-year-old Hero were her trusty Christmas helpers.


The sisters looked charming in their matching white dresses with little red hearts on them.


They teamed the dainty frocks with black tights, long sleeved tops, red Santa hats and matching red patent shoes.


Myleene avoided coordinating with her children and instead wore sleek black dress that clung to her extremely svelte body.

The leader of the pack: Myleene dressed in all black as her daughters wore matching white and red frocks

With her brunette hair up in a rather loose bun, she teetered down the road in a pair of skyscraper heels while holding hands with her girls.


The TV presenter was making a special delivery to her neighbour and wished him a merry Christmas as she handed over a bottle of red wine.


Spreading around goodwill to all men was obviously hungry work for young Hero, as the adorable tot was seen nibbling on a Christmas cracker.

Get ready: With Ava and Hero flanking her Myleene was prepared to wish her neighbour Merry Christmas

She might be one of the most glamorous women in England, but Myleene intends to spend the holiday like everyone else.


She said: 'Same as everybody else - food, family, eat too much, food coma.


'Like loads of mums I wuld like to get some more sleep please, Santa.'

Good morning: Myleene's neighbour seemed genuinely happy and surprised at the thoughtful gesture