Pippa Middleton to spend Christmas with the royals

(CBS) Pippa Middleton was reportedly asked to join her sister and brother-in-law at the royal family's Christmas celebrations at Sandringham, the queen's Norfolk estate, to help her sister-turned-duchess feel more at home on the holiday.

The royal family decided to bend the rules to invite Pippa to take part in the traditional Boxing Day pheasant shoot. That  event  normally is  attended only by the royal family and spouses, reports The Daily Mail.

A source told the paper, "She wants Pippa to join her at Sandringham on Boxing Day because it will make being apart from her family at Christmas a little easier."

This will be Duchess Kate's first Christmas with the royal family. This is not the first time the royals have broken with  tradition for the Middletons. The queen invited Kate's mother, Carole Middleton, to the Royal Ascot in June and  Middleton arrived in the royal carriage procession.