My best Christmas on tour was in South Africa in 2015. The Boxing Day Test was the opening match of the series and it was going to be very competitive. South Africa were still full of big guns and we had just won the Ashes the previous summer.
I had been suffering from a stress fracture in my metatarsal for months, and it felt like a Christmas present when I proved fit enough to join the team in Durban.
And in contrast to the tour of Australia five years ago, I knew I would play if I was fit. That's what I loved about Trevor Bayliss' time coaching England. I felt as if he really believed in me and trusted me to be myself as a bowler. Even though I had an idea that I would be playing, it was still a nice feeling when the captain gave his approval, as Alastair Cook did on Christmas Day.
There was no crying outburst in the toilets, just a quiet and fun Christmas on the Durban waterfront. It wasn't really like Christmas because it was hot and I was thinking about how I was going to go to Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and the rest the next day. I was much more satisfied, even if I had the prospect of facing Dale Steyn in my unenviable role as night watchman, which would ruin anyone's peaceful Christmas.
I didn't have any family traveling with me and enjoyed Christmas lunch with the other players who were in the same boat, then slipped into my room to relax, before watching us win the toss and bowling first on a hot looking pitch. Now, that's a real Christmas gift.
We did lose the toss, but we won the Test by 241 runs. I took one of my favorite wickets of my career, a lifter to Fave du Plessis on the fourth evening, just as he was providing an important backfield defence. It seemed like a degree of redemption for previous Christmas disappointments.
Christmas on tour really becomes like another testing week. I will always feel for the people who and their families have to move around this time of year. Balancing life between being a father, husband, world-class cricketer and Father Christmas must be tough.
Having family there provides a degree of balance, which can be a great escape when you're on a long tour. But explaining to a four-year-old why it doesn't snow and how Santa knows you won't be home is something I always leave to men with kids.
As I settle into this festive period, ready to eat my body weight in whatever is put in front of me, I will think of all the cricketers out there preparing to play a match the next day.
The nerves, excitement, and disappointments are all part of being an athlete. It also happened to be Christmas Day.