Christmas is fast approaching. There is no stopping it. Even faster, in fact much faster than the Leeds to Malton Pennine Express, but you get the idea.

With this in mind I am keen to avoid being labelled as the Christmas Grinch by my wife, so this year, for the sake of her and our young son, I will be particularly, unusually, unbelievably Christmassy.

Nothing will be too festive. Piped music, Father Christmas outfits, wall-to-wall decorations, nothing will be missed. My wife does have the advantage over me this year with electric flashing reindeer, but I hope my food will make up for it.

This year, for the first time, we have my in-laws coming to stay with the whole family. Now, naturally this is a great honour and I am obviously looking forward to it immensely, but I also had not realised all the things you have to remember.

A tree, a turkey, some sprouts, those little sausages with bacon wrapped around them, mountains more food, decorations, presents, gallons of booze and then later aspirin, water, alka-seltzer and running shoes to work it all off.

As well as a monster turkey that my mother–in-law has tracked down (and probably dispatched with her bare hands) there will be shellfish. We are having moules and oysters on Christmas Eve. Very good at this time of year and not too expensive either.

I plan to make bread sauce, cranberry sauce and, for the first time, my favourite – Cumberland sauce. Having just tasted the version sold in Malton Relish, I may rely on that though because it is hard to beat.

Either way, a Malton foodie Christmas is something that gives a lot of joy. Derek Fox’s bird-inside-a-bird-inside-another-bird is certainly worth considering.

Sophie Legard’s figgy puddings – made in Malton I might add – are a hit this year. Beer from Bad Seed brewery is also a hit and I hear a rumour that the newest brewery to hit Malton’s food scene, Brass Castle, has made its first Malton brew ever.

And as the year draws to a close, there is great news for 2014. At the May Malton Food Lovers Festival we have BBC TV’s The Incredible Spice Men confirmed as patrons, as well as the glamorous Michela Chiappa, pictured right, and her sisters, of Channel 4 fame. Michela, Emi and Romina are Italian, but grew up in Wales where life centred around food, family and cooking. I would say that is much the same in Malton and Yorkshire.

When I met the sisters they were thrilled to be visiting Malton and seriously excited about getting across their message of families cooking together. With the Malton Cookery School opening in 2014 they will be coming to the right town.

So may I take this moment to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. I will compare my dining hits and misses in the new year and hopefully will be getting on even better with my in-laws.