There cannot be a more likely time to be suddenly wanting a holiday than when trying to organise a festive family gathering.  The thought of all that food and drink to be obtained and paid for is alarming these days with the sheer cost of everything going up.  Meat and poultry has  been a major pricing  and supply issue for some time following some serious avian flu outbreaks affecting the poultry industry and the move away from meat eating in general has made the cost of the surviving meats produced very much higher.

Then there are the presents.  How things have changed since the 1950s when we generally had two or three gifts and we were immensely grateful.  We had the Christmas stocking of course, our family used one of Dad’s socks, specially knitted for the occasion.  They were bigger than his usual socks so we always looked forward to the regular supplies of a chocolate treat; an orange; a walnut; small paint box with five or six colours and a usually rather pathetic paint brush; a packet of plastecine and maybe a new pack of snap cards or dominoes.  There was far less stress in those days.  Apparently.

Now there is the added pressure from the children who feel entitled to have this or that monster toy or experience.  It can be very wearing on the nervous system.  Once Boxing Day arrives, when better is it to be ignoring the piles of uneaten food to sit down with the laptop and research that first essential step to the holiday, or even the Easter AND summer holidays.   Just thinking about them can be relaxing and restorative!