NEW ORDER - HOOK LOOKS FORWARD TO A SOBER CHRISTMAS

Former NEW ORDER bass player PETER HOOK can't wait to help his kids build their toys this Christmas, with alcohol free steady hands.

The recovering alcoholic, 49, recalls other alcoholics in his rehab group being scared of obligatory Christmas drinking, for fear of falling back off the wagon, but insists he was strong enough to enjoy it without getting hooked.

He says, "I'll be at home assembling toys with the kids.

"When I was in rehab, I was amazed that everyone in my (Alcoholics Anonymous) AA group was terrified of Christmas because they thought they'd fall victim to the egg-nog, but I never found it that way.

"It's nice to wake up and be able to do things like that without your hand shaking and wishing you were dead."