The one lesson I’ve learned from life 

Lauren Child CBE is an author and illustrator best known for her Charlie And Lola books, as well as her Clarice Bean and Ruby Redfort series. She lives in London, with her partner, Adrian, and daughter, Tuesday, 12.

My childhood memories of this time of year are — with a few exceptions — all good. The magical thing was the repeated traditions: decorations, Boxing Day walks, New Year’s Eve parties.

By contrast, in my adult life, all my favourite festive memories involve the unexpected. So, if you’re not having the dream break you anticipated, don’t worry, as often the best memories are made when plans go awry.

In 2005, my sister and I made last-minute plans to go to Copenhagen. Our flight was delayed six hours due to snow, and when we stepped off the plane my luggage had not travelled with us.

Lauren Child CBE is an author and illustrator best known for her Charlie And Lola books

Hearing about this, my friend, Ben, who was staying in the Danish capital with his parents, called with the message: ‘Mum says, “They can’t have Christmas alone.” ’ And suddenly there we were, in one of those Danish houses you see on all the postcards — perfect in the snow.

At the end of 2010, my partner Adrian’s father died. He was much loved and everyone was grief-stricken. It was almost too painful to be around his family, so we decided to spend Christmas at our friends’ farmhouse. Adrian and I stayed until Boxing Day and that morning we drove to have lunch with his family. It was lovely to see them, but the sense of sorrow and loss was overwhelming.

On our way home, our friend Pat phoned and asked how it had gone. And when I told her, she said, ‘Why don’t you come back to us at the farm?’ And so we did. The minute we walked through the door, our spirits lifted.

We have no real hold on what will happen next in life. I wanted to put this truth at the heart of my new book, Clarice Bean: Think Like An Elf, in which eight-year-old Clarice finds her plans are really falling apart, but it’s thinking like one of Santa’s helpers which solves everything in the end.

We might want to control events but we rarely can. And they are often so much more exciting when we don’t.

• Lauren Child’s Clarice Bean: Think Like An Elf is the Fenwick Christmas window for 2022

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