Why do we stress about the holidays as much as we do?
When is the moment that Christmas really begins for you?
Is it when the last present is wrapped, the last card is written, the turkey is in the oven, the sherry is in the trifle and the panic is over?
According to a survey published last week, festive stress peaks at 12.56 on Christmas Day as you cope with roasting potatoes, carving the bird and making sure the gravy isn’t lumpy.
Why do we do this to ourselves every year?
Today, as you finish the last minute preparations and gear yourself up for the home run towards the 25th, how about taking a fresh look at our need to try to create the perfect Christmas?
It’s a special day, but often we’re so frazzled and stressed about getting it right, pleasing everyone and creating the perfect Christmas that we end up not enjoying it as we should.
So here’s my radical suggestion let yourself off the hook and settle for an imperfect Christmas.
Sick of making little crosses on the bottom of two dozen sprouts? Open a tin of peas.
Not enough wrapping paper for the last prezzies? Once you’ve finished reading your Sunday Post, use that and claim it’s the new retro fashion this year.
Your mother-in-law is coming to stay and the spare bedroom is a tip? Fill a bin bag with the stuff that’s lying around and hide it in the attic.
You forgot to defrost the turkey? How about a big bowl of pasta sprinkled with chipolatas instead?
Remind yourself that you’re not Delia, Nigella or Mary Berry.
If the kids are hyper and squabbling just put on a CD of Christmas carols and sing loudly to drown out the noise.
And if everyone is watching TV and you feel hard done by slaving over a hot stove, simply pour yourself a glass of wine and look forward to Boxing Day.
I’ve had Christmases when things went smoothly. But they were a rarity.
One year I forgot where I’d hidden the Bunty Annual, the batteries for the toys and my husband’s aftershave. But their discovery in January brightened a dull month.
My in-laws were always late arriving for Christmas dinner but dried up turkey isn’t so bad if you smother it in gravy and mash.
The cat climbed up the Christmas tree one year and knocked it over, but we swept up the broken baubles and sometimes less is more.
Then there was the time when we all had flu, but bed, a book and some Lemsip isn’t the worst way to spend a day.
The fact is if you take the pressure off and stop trying to create the perfect Christmas, surprising things can happen.
Allow yourself to have a laugh when things go wrong. Accept that you’ll never be Superwoman. Hide all receipts until the great reckoning next month. Lie and say you love the perfume your husband bought you.
Just enjoy being home with the people you love. That’s enough to make the day special.
It may not be the perfect Christmas. But a chilled-out, imperfect Christmas brings its own happiness.
Hope you have a good one.
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