Pick Me Up! Special Festive Special 2020

This Christmas, as we hang up our decorations and carefully wrap our presents, we’ll be thinking of our loved ones more than ever. After months apart, and too many Zoom quizzes to count, we’ve been reminded of the importance of family. Shaun (pg10) knows all too well how much we should treasure our loved ones while we still can. Although his beloved dad is no longer with him, he lives on through 20,000 twinkling lights and a van-size replica of the Coca-Cola Christmas truck. And he’s not the only one lighting up the meaning of family this month. After landing her feet in the UK, Datsa (pg38) put all her energy into creating a better life for her two boys. Now, she lights up the likes of Amanda Holden’s walls with dazzling…

The night before Christmas Me and my mum Betty enjoying a Christmas Eve dinner. Debbie, Melksham O Christmas tree Me and my boyfriend standing under a towering Christmas tree. Lydia, Manchester Present assistant Little Rose likes to help everybody open their presents. Hollie, East Devon Waffle surprise My boyfriend, Owen, surprised me with an indulgent chocolate waffle with caramel ice cream after my last day of work before the Christmas break. Sandra, Exeter Friends for brunch Bunch with my friends - Christmas time is all about giving love to friends and family. Tyler, London Post-present snooze Arabella napping after being overwhelmed by excitement in her baby-clause outfit. Vicky, Bristol Christmas challenge The best Christmas dinner ever. We somehow successfully cooked for seven in one tiny oven. Ellie, Salisbury Beers and cheers My friend Aimee having a celebratory beer after putting her Christmas tree up. Deci,…

Santa's little helper Scamp loves Christmas, his favourite part is unwrapping presents, but he also likes wearing Santa hats. Emily, West Midlands Gerbil surprise I just discovered my two gerbils, Owen and Ed are both female. It looks like they might need renaming to Owena and Edna – oops. Adam, Leeds Protective pooch Mufasa loves receiving new toys for Christmas, although he’s often reluctant to share them. Hannah, Chippenham Midnight thief We can't leave cookies and milk out on Christmas Eve because this little minx, called Jammy, steals it before Santa can get to it. Sarah, Edinburgh…

Rubbing my arm, I groaned out in pain. ‘It really hurts,’ I cried to my mum, Vivienne, 37. They told me it was tennis elbow ‘It’s probably just growing pains,’ she assured me. I was 15 and my right elbow had been giving me some gyp, but I didn’t think it was anything serious. But when it hadn’t got any better a week later, Mum dragged me to the doctors to get it checked out. ‘It sounds like it’s a tennis elbow,’ my GP told me, sending me home with some painkillers. ‘If it gets any worse, come back.’ The next day I was still in agony, and so they sent me straight to A&E. There, medics performed an ultrasound, took blood tests and a biopsy to see what was wrong. After that, I was sent home to rest…

I wasn’t due for another six weeks – but that wasn’t stopping our little girl. ‘I think my waters have broken,’ I cried to my husband Alex, 40, as I woke up in the middle of the night at our home in Leeds. ‘What do you mean?’ he gasped. A painful 60 hours later, on 27 August 2009, our first daughter, Ruby, now 10, was born, weighing 5lbs 2oz. 'You seem very brave' Because she’d arrived prematurely the doctors wanted to keep us at St James’s University Hospital for a couple of days, to keep a close eye on her. She seemed like a perfectly healthy little baby, and we were over the moon – but the nurses started to notice that she was sleeping a lot and not feeding very well. ‘We’ll get the pediatrician…

Three pony-loving little girls from Essex are celebrating after a letter they wrote during their school holidays has delivered much more than they expected. Sisters Jessica, eight, and Esme, seven, and their cousin Orla, three, wrote to Pink Lady apples about their pony Mac, who loves to snack on the rosy fruit. Their letter explained that Mac had been rescued from a tough life at a riding stables where he had been mistreated, and so they like to spoil him with his favourite juicy apples and look after him. The team at Pink Lady apples were so impressed with the girls' letter and their pictures of Mac, that they got in touch with the cousins to arrange a special delivery of apples for Mac and a donation in his name to a local…