One of the beautiful things about Christmas is that the holiday is celebrated differently around the entire world, so if you fancy shaking up the festive season, other cultures hold a fount of inspiration.

If you discovered the joy of crafting during the first lockdown and are on the lookout for new projects to pass the time, making a Tió de Nadal is sure to bring a smile to your face.

The cheerful log-on-legs, which translates to ‘Christmas Log’ in English, is a Catalan present-bearing character usually filled with nuts, dried fruits and sweets, and will look picture-perfect if you’re building a festive window display.

Or, if you’re of the opinion that you can never have too many decorations, take inspiration from Ukrainian culture, where sparkling, web-shaped decorations made from paper and silver wire are hung on Christmas trees as a symbol of good luck.

Then, instead of working your way through a family-size tin of chocolates, satisfy your sweet tooth with Polish makowiec (poppy seed rolls), German christollen (cake with dried fruit and marzipan) or Spanish polvorones (a crumbly shortbread made from flour, butter and sugar).

They make brilliant homemade gifts, too – that’s if you don’t devour them all first…

5 ways to do Christmas differently this year