With just two more sleeps until Christmas day, the presents are wrapped, the turkey has been stuffed and work is finally over for the festive period.
One of the biggest and best parts of Christmas is the sumptuous dinner which brings all of the family together, from grandparents to all the little elves and festive puppies and kittens.
Of course the traditional main to serve during the meal is a roast of turkey, or sometimes goose, duck, beef or lamb but the traditional Christmas starter often comes from the sea.
A long queue was winding its way down Market Street by 9.30am on the last Ulverston market day before Christmas, as customers hurried to stock up from fishmonger George Wilson.
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Mr Wilson has been coming to Ulverston every Thursday for 20 years and has been selling fish in his stall which stands just outside Tesco Express. He now works alongside his son-in-law Nikky Jonas.
Mr Wilson, who has been a fishmonger for 40 years, said: "The most popular Christmas starters that we sell would still probably be smoked salmon or prawns. We sell Greenland cold water prawns, which are incredibly popular and by far the best.
"We also smoke the salmon ourselves in the family smokehouse but then sell it raw so that customers can cook it themselves if they like.
"Most of fish comes fresh from the boats that operate out of Fleetwood in Lancashire. They would typically fish around the Shetland Islands and the Faroe Islands."
Prawn cocktail is quite the classic dish and still a favourite in many households for a Christmas starter as well as smoked salmon pate or slices of cold smoked salmon layered with cream cheese. If you are feeling very luxurious then a lobster bisque may be on the menu. Mr Jonas, who loves working with his father-in-law, said: "We got a few lobsters in this morning but we had sold out before 9am!
"We always have a busy week as we are in Settle on Tuesdays, Skipton on Wednesdays and Fridays and Ulverston on Thursdays. Of course, Ulverston is our favourite place. It has been especially busy in the run up to Christmas and we will be glad to finish work on Friday afternoon and have a couple of weeks' break with the family."
Some people may know that our European neighbours have some slightly different Christmas traditions to us here in the UK and for those on the continent it's all about the Christmas Eve festivities.
A big Christmas Eve supper is the focus and in Italy, where people celebrate with a meal called The Feast of the Seven Fishes.
The feast, which is also known as The Vigil, commemorates the wait, the Vigilia di Natale, for the midnight birth of the baby Jesus.
The choice of a fish supper stems from a long tradition of eating seafood on Christmas Eve and dates from the Roman Catholic tradition of abstinence.
In the case of The Feast of the Seven Fishes, Christians refrain from the consumption of meat or milk products on holy days and instead eat fish, typically fried in oil. The choice of seafood always varies from region to region but often include a hearty fish stew, salt cod, and fried calamari or fritto misto.
So there you have it, festive fish is a tradition that is older than turkey and definitely a tasty way to celebrate your Christmas eve or to introduce your dinner on December 25.
Spice up the classic prawn cocktail
Some people might say that prawn cocktail is a bit 80s but personally I think you can't beat a good prawn cocktail starter, especially if you spice it up a little bit!
This is my favourite recipe for a prawn cocktail with a Mexican twist and it is suitably impressive for dinner parties with friends or family:
Ingredients
500g (1 1/4 lb) cooked Greenland cold water prawns
1/2 a large, diced cucumber
1 small, diced tomato
8 spring onions, thinly sliced
A good handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped
2 avocados cut in to cubes
1 chilli, thinly sliced
1/3 (600g) jar passata
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 lime
Method
1. In a large bowl, combine prawns, cucumber, tomato, spring onion, coriander, avocado and chilli. Stir in passata and vinegar. Squeeze lime juice over mixture.
2. Serve in glasses with shredded lettuce or slices of celery.
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