Christmas seems to have come very quickly this year, not helped by the fact that the media have been forcing it down our throats ever since Bonfire night.

For our family Christmas started yesterday when the Husband and Stepson went to their church for the annual carol ceremony. Today the Stepson comes to stay with us for a few days. Tomorrow the Husband and I drive over to Whitstable to pick up the Father-in-Law and drive him back here. The following day, Christmas Eve, we’ll have a family day with the Stepdaughter arriving after work presumably in the evening. Christmas Day we are all together until after lunch, when the Stepson goes back to his mother’s house. And Boxing Day we take the Father-in-Law back home to Whitstable where he will spend some time with his daughter and her family.

Listed like that it doesn’t seem a very pressured time. But I’m finding myself getting all tense at the thought of all that Christmas involves: including all the food shopping, cooking etc. Such pressures are put on ourselves this time of year, mainly by ourselves, to make everything perfect. And it doesn’t have to be perfect; it’s just the family enjoying ourselves by being together.

Don’t have a perfect, stressful Christmas. Instead have a relaxed and enjoyable Christmas, everyone.