The combined pressures of endless shopping trips,
entertaining distant relatives and trying to keep the hordes of excited children occupied can take all the fun out of the festive season and leave you feeling anything but merry. But one of the main reasons that stress levels often reach
fever-pitch by Christmas Day is that we all have wildly unrealistic expectations about how it is
supposed to turn out. Decide very early on just how much of your Christmas budget can be spent on food and drink, and how much you want to splash out on gifts for family and friends. Make a list of what you will buy each person and stick to it – sometimes the simplest presents are the best. Consider it a family rule that no present should exceed a nominal amount. This can be really fun and will waken up those creative juices, while avoiding family rivalry over who spent the most money. Finally, try to relax and enjoy the big day by simply allowing yourself not to be perfect - just this once.
One of the most important things to do is to make a
Christmas card list – there are several mail merge computer
programs, including Word for Windows, which will make the actual addressing of envelopes a lot easier and quicker.
l Make a shopping list of all the food and drink you need - keeping to your budget. Doing it this early will give you plenty of time to add to it at your leisure
l At least one month before, buy all the frozen foods and non-perishables to stock up your cupboards. Don't forget the crackers, napkins and any other table
decorations you would like.
l Send off your cards on the first day of December – a few weeks earlier if you have any international post.
l Put the Christmas tree up.
l For the actual day, delegate someone to keep the drinks topped up, another to make sure the CDs are changed regularly, a diplomat to diffuse any arguements.
l On the big day start the cooking as early as possible. Make sure that you leave plenty of time for the turkey to cook but not too long that it becomes dry. :: Eat, drink and be merry because tomorrow you'll have to start the clean-up operation!