Anna Williamson Pass the mistletoe!

The smell of cinnamon, tinsel, and panic is in the air! Every year, Christmas seems to descend upon us with as much urgency and pressure as poor ol' Santa himself must feel every 24 December. And whether you are in a relationship, or you are wishing you were, Christmas is undoubtedly a particularly testing time for our love lives.

In one camp, you have those who are spliced (hopefully, happily so), and in the other, a pool of potential partners ready to find their perfect match. Let me reassure you now: if you fit into either of these categories, you are in a very well-established club of folks all trying to figure it out and get through the festive period in one piece!

If you are in a couple and anticipating running the festive gauntlet without ending in divorce (I’m joking – kind of ), then there are plenty of things you can do to future-proof your relationship and enjoy the festivities in the process. According to Relate, around 70 percent of couples anticipate Christmas will put pressure on their relationship, so it really is a thing, and you are a perfectly normal couple if you find this time of year particularly stressful. There’s a lot to think about, isn’t there? Whose house you spend the big day at. Juggling difficult loved ones. How much money to spend on presents. And throwing children into the mix can only add to the overwhelm.