HERE’S THE ultimate UNCOVERED Family Christmas Survival Guide, to help you get through the break without too many dramas!
(To the tune of ‘it’s the most wonderful time of the year’) It’s the most stressful time of year! With the kids CONSTANTLY yelling, and everyone telling you they’ve had only one beer! It’s the most stressful time of the year….
1. Accept your less than perfect Christmas!
Nobody has ever had the perfect Christmas, no matter what they say. Something always goes wrong, whether it’s the food being undercooked, your family causing trouble or… Well literally anything. Christmas tends to follow the rule of ‘anything that can go wrong will go wrong’! So why worry about it? Just roll with it and don’t go expecting it to be movie or Instagram perfect, take it as it is or pretend to be sick and stay at home and avoid all the drama!
2. Bring a buddy
In some houses Christmas is a war-zone! If you don’t have a buddy in the trenches with you, you’re unlikely to survive. OK maybe that’s a little extreme, but it does help to have someone on your side at the dinner table. A friendly cousin, grandparent, uncle or your parents, someone who’s willing to help you deflect those annoying pointed questions that relatives love to ask. Having someone there to help change the subject away from ‘Got a boyfriend/Girlfriend yet?’ and ‘Well what are you doing with your life?’ will be invaluable!
3. Get out of the house
During the Christmas period everyone gets stuck in the house for a few days without a break from each other – tough if you’ve fallen out over the results of a family Monopoly game! So it’s usually a good idea to come up with a plan to get everybody, or at least everyone aside from you, out of the house for a while. The space should hopefully give you some time to relax and refresh yourself. That way when it comes to more family activities you’ll be rested and ready to go.
4. Drink! But only when you’re feeling happy
Now a lot of people like to have a drink at Christmas, a bit of mulled wine or some Bucks Fizz can get you into the Christmas spirit. Which is all good while everyone’s feeling happy and excited. But try to avoid it if the mood goes downhill. While listening to your grandparents talk about Brexit and ‘how the world was back in their day’ is enough to make anyone reach for another glass of wine, it might be better to respond to them sober than when you’re full of liquid confidence. If you keep the alcohol restricted to the enjoyable parts of Christmas then you’re sure to have a good time. Keep it in moderation though, you don’t want to be feeling ill on Boxing Day!
