The reason Paddy McGuinness’ family won’t have a Christmas tree

The TV host and his wife have decided not to put up a tree this year.

Paddy McGuinness and his wife Christine are foregoing the tradition of a Christmas tree and lights for the festive season because of the dangerous effect it has on their children. The pair are parents of autistic twins, Penelope and Leo, who had a difficult time coping with lights and decorations last year.

A post shared by Christine McGuinness (@mrscmcguinness) on Sep 29, 2017 at 9:18am PDT

Christine took to Instagram today to share her worries about decorating the house this year, saying:

“I’m nervous about putting a tree, I don’t think I’m going to. Last year was the most upsetting Christmas we’ve had, we had just been told our twins had autism and we felt very out of our depth. “Christmas massively affects the twins behaviour. They were extremely anxious and unsettled. The Christmas lights, trees, decorations and music… it was all too much. “It was very overstimulating and with so much change everywhere it was quite frightening for our children who were pretty non-verbal, they had no understanding of what was going on.”

A post shared by Christine McGuinness (@mrscmcguinness) on Dec 6, 2017 at 5:47am PST

However, Christine says that she is now more prepared and looking forward to helping her children enjoy the holidays.

“Now, I’m fuelled with knowledge on their condition and I’m really looking forward to preparing them in advance to help them understand the magic of Christmas.”