Soul food: Nathan Outlaw on Christmas sausage rolls As soon as the first door of the advent calendar was open, I would look forward to Christmas. For the whole month my younger brother and I were nightmares. One Christmas Eve we were so excited we didn't go to sleep at all, and our poor mum had to get up at 2.15am and start the day. It's my brother's birthday today, so the celebrations in our house have always started on the 23rd. The table was laid as a continuous buffet for 12 days straight, with home-made mince pies and sausage rolls, meats and pickles, smoked salmon, Twiglets and cheesy balls. We drank bucks fizz with a full English on Christmas morning, and it was the one time of the year when we had a posh box of biscuits. Every year my dad had to mimic the Quality Street advert where a guy throws them up in the air - all of a sudden there'd be chocolates everywhere and dogs going bonkers. Dad was, and still is, a chef, catering for offices, so he brought back the best bits of turkey for us. He made the best sausage rolls, eggwashing the tops and sprinkling them with seeds, and making the sausage meat with herbs he'd dried from our garden. They were amazing with piccalilli. Now when I visit Mum and Dad at Christmas he has them ready for me. My kids are seven and nine, so I try to recreate my memories with them.