Clad in a striking black velvet dress with vibrant embroidery on its balloon sleeves, Sophie Ellis-Bextor embodies the essence of a glamorous pop icon, even while seated at her kitchen table. However, our conversation quickly shifts as she playfully confronts her husband, Richard Jones, a music producer and bassist for the pop band The Feeling, who is causing quite a commotion in the background. “Are you planning to use a pneumatic drill next?” she quips.

Is this a scene from “Murder on the Kitchen Floor”? Sophie’s laughter soon eases the moment, reminding us that even a disco queen juggles life’s demands—balancing men, music, motherhood, and the holiday season, just like many of us.

With the holiday countdown ticking away, Sophie, a mother to five children—Sonny, 21, Kit, 16, Ray, 13, Jesse, nine, and Mickey, six—is in the midst of planning for the festivities. “The kids will be off soon,” she notes, listing her extensive to-do list. Amidst the indoor hustle, she finds tranquility in the quieter streets of west London, where she resides.

“Things are winding down,” she beams. “When I step outside, the streets are calmer, and everything has that warm, Christmassy vibe—London is my absolute favorite place this time of year.”

And what a remarkable year it’s been for this award-winning singer-songwriter.

With five top 10 albums and eight top 10 singles already under her belt, Sophie, 46, released her eighth record, Perimenopop, in September. The title is a tongue-in-cheek reference to her age and “the chapter” of life she is in, while the record is packed with the fun-filled, upbeat tracks she’s become synonymous with.

Her famous 2001 hit, Murder on the Dancefloor, has also enjoyed a huge resurgence after being featured in Emerald Fennell’s 2023 film Saltburn reaching over 11 billion streams across streaming and social media platforms. Sophie’s been performing it as part of a headline tour across the UK this year.

Most recently, she spread Christmas cheer by appearing in food retailer Ocado’s first festive advert where she surprised a choir of Ocado drivers and employees as they take on the classic carol Jingle Bells. Sophie performed the song with the choir in Richmond, west London earlier this month.

No wonder she’s feeling a little tired. But with as many as 20 people expected at her house on Christmas Day, how is she managing to stay so serene (noisy husband aside)?

“As a family of seven, I’m used to upscaling, and after 20 years of hosting Christmas dinner, I think I’ve got it down,” she chuckles. A roast is one of the best mains to make. If you have to make it go far, you can just double the potatoes or whatever. I can’t have anyone leave the house hungry – I am a real feeder.”

Aside from the turkey and all the trimmings, Sophie loves to jazz up her Boxing Day leftovers with global flavours.

“One thing we like to have are snowman bao buns – we’ve actually been having these for a little while now,” she explains. “They literally look like tiny little snowmen. My kids are just as likely to have Korean, Chinese or Japanese food as they are to have a turkey sandwich.”

Sophie’s parents are former Blue Peter presenter Janet Ellis and television producer Robin Bextor, who separated when she was four.

Following on from her own childhood Christmases, Sophie wants her family to understand the importance of celebrating with friends and neighbours across several days.

“I like to think of Christmas as a season and not just one day – that really helps me to manage everything without there being too much pressure to get everything spot on on Christmas day,” she explains. “My parents parted ways when I was really quite young so I had two families to be with and by treating it as a longer period of time rather than one or two key days, it felt fairer and not like anyone was getting left out. I’ve tried to stick to that ever since.”

Her graceful approach to navigating family life at Christmas echoes throughout our interview.

“We are faithful to putting our decorations up on the weekend closest to December 1 and every year we seem to build in a little more,” she says. “The kids make things and I add more stuff. I love colour so my husband says it looks like Christmas all year round in our house anyway! This year as well as our big tree. I have put a baby tree in the kitchen and one in my 16-year-old’s room so that everybody’s got a little bit of Christmas around the house. I love it.”

Although she’s known for her love of sequins and feminine styles, Sophie can’t resist matching outfits and festive knitwear at this time of year.

“A close family friend hand-knitted all seven of us Christmas jumpers so we love wearing those,” she says. “Christmas pyjamas were another gift for the kids and now they really look forward to putting them on – it helps that they are so snuggly and they will probably be in them all day on Christmas day.”

But what will Sophie be rocking when she pulls a cracker?

She’s famous for her good-vibes Kitchen Disco that featured the entire Ellis-Bextor/Jones clan singing and dancing in ten live Friday night shows shared on social media during the pandemic. The broadcasts were so popular that they became a weekly show on Radio 2 with Sophie looking impossibly gorgeous in a succession of shimmery outfits.

“I love twinkly things but I tend to wear those on stage so when I’m at home I want to be cosy so I can curl up on the sofa or get down on the floor putting batteries in toys or set up a train set,” she says. “I don’t want to feel like I’m getting ready for a gig. I just want to be very timely and tidy so I’ll probably wear something like I have on today – a nice soft velvet something.”

There is one big family tradition in the Ellis-Bextor household – doing the conga with the family while the Christmas pudding is lit. A tradition passed down from her grandfather from her mother’s side, it involves everyone singing “Here Comes the Christmas Pudding” to the tune of “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow”.

What about presents? Something glamorous, as you might expect, with a touch of humour.

“I remember one time I’d seen a kind of big piece of custom jewellery in a shop, and I really liked that. And then I’d also told Richard about a time when a family friend said she wanted a salad spinner,” she recalls. “I remember thinking, ‘That is the most boring thing I’ve ever heard anyone ask for’. So that Christmas I opened up my present from him and it was a salad spinner – with the costume jewellery I’d asked for inside. He got double brownie points for that one!”

Sophie’s proudest gifting moment came when she gave her husband a bespoke bass guitar. “He likes Star Wars and I managed to find this guy that makes bass guitars out of Star Wars toys and got him one made – it’s a Millennium Falcon that’s been turned into a bass guitar. It sounds good as well. Last year he played it on the BBC and we used it in the Kitchen Disco. And everybody that sees it says, ‘Oh my God that’s a nice one’.”

Sophie ordered it while she was pregnant with Jesse in 2015.

“The baby was due in November and I knew that when I had the baby, I was not going to have time to think about Christmas,” she recalls. “So it was actually the most organised I’ve ever been!”

With her unwavering enthusiasm for the festive season, how does she keep upbeat when the lights are packed away in January and the kids go back to school?

“It’s good for me to remember that the days are actually getting longer,” she replies. “I like to have a few plans in place for the new year, new projects so I have something to look forward to. As a family we are quite lucky as my youngest’s birthday is in January. So that’s the kind of little thing that we celebrate and look forward to.”

Sophie’s excited for 2026 as she continues her tour in Australia and New Zealand in February. “Especially for me as a musician, having a new project, something creative, always helps me to feel a bit more optimistic,” she adds. 

“The times when you start to feel like it’s an empty page and you don’t know what you’re supposed to do next, that’s when it can be really tough. “I have some girlfriends, like some of my best friends, and we always have a January get together. I like to keep a few things in the diary, some nice people to see and little things to  plan for.” 

And if that doesn’t catch you for a New Year’s resolution, there’s always the leftovers.

Ocado and Sophie Ellis-Bextor have launched a re-imagined version of Jingle Bells, celebrating the quirky festive food traditions enjoyed by families across the UK. See the full festive range at Ocado.com