I wish the ads would be more realistic as all that glamour just adds to the pressure of making Christmas "perfect".
Doesn't it just BOB. We don't make much of a fuss at Xmas to be honest. We are a very small family and with some very fussy eaters too so Xmas dinner is really just like a Sunday dinner. In the past I've bought special luxury items, wanting our Xmas to look like the ones on TV but it just got thrown away or eaten for the sake of it. So now I don't bother. We don't even dress up or have a special tablecloth!

We spend it quietly and just enjoy the break from work and chance to spend time at home together or go for walks. If family want to come to us they can but we just go with the flow. I think it will just be me, hubby and son on Xmas day. We will no doubt see the others on Boxing Day or sometime during the holiday.
But there's always that niggly feeling that everyone else is enjoying Xmas just like on TV, with a houseful of relatives all laughing and looking fabulous and sometimes I wish I had that too.
I remember telling a colleague that we were a small family when he asked if I had relatives coming for Xmas. I asked him if he had a lot of relatives himself and he replied "Well, I've got more than I want"
ariadne xx