Joe and Zoe ‘Zoella’ Sugg had the strangest Christmas tradition as kids

Joe Sugg and his sister Zoe used to have a strange pre-Christmas tradition (Picture: YouTube/Zoella)

Every family has their Christmas traditions but Strictly Come Dancing’s Joe Sugg confessed his and his equally famous sister Zoe’s might be the weirdest one around.

The Sugg household has had an early present this year (and it’s a big one) as Zoe, better known as Zoella, and her partner Alfie Deyes welcomed second baby Novie just days ago.

Christmas is set to be a busy but ‘super-exciting’ one the 32-year-old media personality explained to Metro.co.uk, unable to hide his glee at having a new niece to spoil.

Meanwhile, giddy uncle Joe has been cheering on his girlfriend Dianne Buswell as she danced her way to the 2023 Strictly Come Dancing final with Bobby Brazier.

Strictly is part of many families’ run up to Christmas, with the whole month of December almost as stacked with traditions as the big day – from decorating the tree to unwrapping one gift on Christmas Eve.

Joe reflected on his childhood alongside his fellow YouTube star sister, admitting their preparations would start in September with an odd tradition that they’re probably alone in keeping.

Joe has to split his time between the UK and girlfriend Dianne Buswell’s Australian home (Picture: David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock)

This year has a strong UK pull with sister Zoe welcoming her second child (Picture: Instagram/Zoe Sugg)

‘We love Christmas, me and my sister especially, it’s such a big part of our lives,’ the Username author began.

Pausing and laughing, Joe hesitantly confessed: ‘Weirdly, we used to – actually it’s quite sad – but when we were kids, we used to rehearse Christmas Day in September.

‘So we’d practice what we do on Christmas Day. We used to wrap up toys – like things we already had wrapped up – in clothes and put them in a pillow sack and pretend and rehearse Christmas Day.

‘Is it cute or sad? I don’t know. You decide.’

We’re not sure if Joe and Zoe still do this dress rehearsal given their busy lives but Joe shared that he’s looking forward to bringing Christmas cheer to the kids in his family.

The pair also had their YouTube traditions with Vlogmas (Picture: YouTube/Zoella)

For Joe, Christmas is all about family (Picture: YouTube/Zoella)

He continued: ‘It’s so exciting with having all these nieces in the family now and they’re getting to that age where they’re starting to understand Christmas. That’s when it gets super exciting for me, when other people get excited for Christmas.’

Far from a Grinch, Joe admitted he and Dianne have only spent one Christmas together in the UK since they started dating in 2018 having gone to the Strictly finals together.

That was lockdown in 2020, which put a stop to festive plans everywhere, but he confessed they’ve never really had a ‘proper traditional’ Christmas since.

Dianne’s family is in Australia, with her dad undergoing chemotherapy, so the couple has to split their time between the two countries, which is no easy feat.

Little Novie arrived just in time for the festivities (Picture: Instagram/Zoe Sugg)

Joe can’t wait to run around as Santa for his little nieces (Picture: Zoe Sugg/Instagram)

Joe joked: ‘Christmas down under, making snow sand castles on a beach, which I have done once before which is a very unusual experience to have getting used to.

‘As much as I love the UK, I don’t mind the idea of laying on the beach with a beer in my hand on Christmas Day.’

Dianne tries to visit her family in Oz as much as possible so the Strictly podcast host teased they may be spending Christmas in the sunshine this year, although with Bobby and Dianne’s Strictly success who knows.

Despite the distance, Joe has big plans for a massive family gathering combining both his and Dianne’s relatives for a huge party in the UK, renting out a village hall for the giant get-together.

Joe beamed as he added: ‘I’ve already put my name in the hat for Santa. I said “Look, I want to be the uncle that’s Father Christmas and has the bells on his shoes and comes in dishing out presents to the kids.” It’s adorable.’

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