THOUGHT you had a lot to do before Christmas Day? Spare a thought for the parents of Britain's biggest family, who are facing a mammoth pile of presents and £7,000 spend.

Mum-of-22 Sue Radford, 46, and husband Noel, 50, insist they're finally done having kids but that doesn't mean the family has stopped growing.

"We have the grandchildren now," Noel tells the Mail. "Sophie has three, Millie has one, Chris has three but he also has four step-children, which we count as ours, so that’s 11 grandchildren so far, although only one lives with us full-time."

On Sunday night, a Christmas special of their Channel 5 show 22 Kids and Counting airs on Channel 5.

Speaking ahead of the show, Sue said she was annoyed at herself for not starting preparations earlier – even though she's been wrapping since September.

The super mum, who can put on a nappy in two seconds, can also wrap a stack of presents within minutes.

Sue buys "between 50 and 70" rolls of wrapping paper and loves going all out for Christmas.

It's especially true in 2021, "because last year we couldn’t really do it properly." In total, they plan to spend between £5,000 and £7,000.

The family, who live in a 10-bed former care home in Morecambe, Lancs, are expecting 27 for Christmas dinner and extras on Boxing Day, when Sue's mum and Noel's dad join them.

Noel, who runs his own bakery, will do the cooking – while Sue picks up their mammoth food shop.

Most read in Fabulous

It includes 10kg of potatoes, 4kg of carrots, 60 Yorkshire puddings, 120 pigs in blankets and 2.5kg of Brussels sprouts – costing £400 before they add the meat.

The family will munch on a turkey, beef joint and a whole gammon on December 25 – cooked in their dual ovens.

But the food is far from the biggest expense, with Noel and Sue splashing out between £100 and £200 on each kid's presents – buying a huge 300 gifts in total.

The kids write lists but, with so many of them, their dream items aren't guaranteed. This year, Sue spent hours searching for a PS5 and a particular Barbie doll's house.

She explains: "We have had to give up on the PS5 and we got the doll’s house eventually, but the cost was disgusting. It is supposed to be £240 but one site was offering it for over £700."

On Christmas Eve, the kids normally open a box with a set of matching PJs. Meanwhile there's four Christmas trees with personalised baubles and 25 stockings.

So how do they afford it all? The Radfords have famously never had government support (apart from child benefit).

Business is good at Noel's pie shop, which has just expanded into new premises, but that's not the whole picture.

A good chunk of their income comes from TV work and now Sue's influencing on Instagram and YouTube.

The social media works"means the kids can have treats and holidays".

Sue says: "It takes a lot of work to keep that side going, but it won’t last."

Noel insists the bakery will always be the priority, "because you can’t hand a YouTube channel down to the kids, can you?"

Last month, the family jetted off to Lapland with 13 of their kids, and they admit the TV company helped foot the bill.

"It was lovely when we were there, but getting there was a nightmare," says Sue. "We discovered four of the kids’ passports had expired, and Heidie has never had one at all."

Then, of course, there's all the extra paperwork for Covid-19.

Noel and Sue are parents to Chris, 32, and Sophie, 28, Chloe, 26, Jack, 24, Daniel, 22, Luke, 21, Millie, 20, Katie, 19, James, 18, Ellie, 16, Aimee, 15, Josh, 14, Max, 13, Tillie, 11, Oscar ten, Casper, nine, Hallie, six, Phoebe, five, Archie, four, Bonnie, three and Heidie, 20 months.

Their son Alfie (baby no 17) was sadly stillborn in 2014. Millie's daughter Ophelia also lives with the family.

Sue recently showed off their Christmas Days throughout the years.

22 Kids And Counting At Christmas airs on Sunday, December 19 at 9pm on Channel 5.

Source: Read Full Article