After last year’s “miserable” Christmas, former Nationwide presenter Mary Kennedy has said she is looking forward to having a proper family Christmas .

“Well of course, last year nothing happened. I alternate every year with my brother and his family and last year was my turn to host. There’s usually 16 of us and last year, there were five. It was pretty miserable. And this year, it’s John and Eileen’s turn to host so we’ll be up there in Rathcoole,” she said.

“It will be just family. I bring the spiced beef and the bread sauce and John does the dinner. My sister Deirdre’s there too and my nephew Dermot and Claire and we have cocktails. It will be presents, fire and a walk, that kind of stuff.”

She recently helped her chart-topping nephew Dermot celebrate turning the big 3-oh, which coincided with him playing several sell-out gigs at Dublin’s 3Arena.

“He had to do two shows on each day because of the 50pc rule. It was fine. There were smaller numbers but the 9,000 ticket holders got in on the day. And it was his birthday so we got to have a cake in between the two shows,” she said. “It’s a lot of hard work. But it must have been so hard for people not to be able to perform when it’s their raison d’étre.”

This year also saw her putting pen to paper and writing a book with her sister Deirdre Ní Chinnéide. Journey to the Well explores our connection with the old Celtic traditions and wisdom. It has just entered its second print-run.

“I don't think the Irish give ourselves credit for our characteristics which are part of our DNA that we just take for granted that are very worthwhile and outward looking, and kind of caring aspects to our personality,” she said.

“You really notice these things when you go abroad and not everybody is the same. So it’s a book about connecting with Celtic ways and wisdom so that can inform how we can emerge from the pandemic.”

Mary will also be keeping to her annual Christmas tradition of doing the GOAL Mile to raise funds for the organisation. She has been away with the charity three times as an ambassador.

“Last year was tough, not having that but the fact that it went virtual meant it could happen anywhere around the world. This year the nice thing is that it’s being relaunched with gusto and it’s in-person and people can laugh and connect with people again,” she said.

The popular fundraiser, supported by AIB, returns with an in-person event and is going since 1977 as members of the public are called upon to run, jog or walk a mile to support vulnerable communities across 14 countries.

And she will also be getting her 2022 off to an active start as she intends on brushing up on the skills she acquired for Dancing with the Stars ahead of her son Eoin’s wedding in May.

“My partner and I are starting dancing lessons in January and I’m really looking forward to it,” she said. “We’d like to do a nice waltz at the wedding and a proper jive. I don’t want all the guests at the wedding to look at me and go, ‘Jesus, she was the one that did DWTS and look at her now!’ so I think I'd like to have a little bit of panache.”

She said she is “so thrilled” the show is coming back in 2022. “I cannot wait to see it. I’d just love the contestants to know the experience, the adventure that they are going on. I had dinner recently with my dance partner John Nolan and we’ve stayed friends since,” she said.

"I can’t wait to go out to the studio and be in the audience and not have the sweat pouring down my back with the nerves and be petrified. But it was wonderful. I loved it, it was so exhilarating and so special.”