It's a wonderful time of the year.

I love Christmas - the parties, the shopping, the food - what's not to love?

It's been a fairly cruisey lead up this year which has been very different. I'm all organised and ready to go - we even have the table set and I've been for a run.

I was at a party last week when a woman I'd only just met was sharing that due to her husband's recent retrenchment, they were all sorted and she was missing the 'week before Christmas drama'. It's not often you get such a candid confession. Most of the time we prefer to have a moan about how busy we are and how much there is to do - but in truth, it's fun.

The slower pace isn't bad though. I remember those far-too-few Christmases with four kids (including the toddler, the teenager and two in between), a corporate job that had me to be nailed to my desk until just before the day, going to 10 parties and breakups, buying 35 presents and hosting 22 on the day - ahhhhh - those where the days!

If you do find Christmas with the relatives all a bit much, perhaps you might like to recap my post of the tautology of dysfunctional families. Just to be assured how normal you are.

Anyway, wishing everyone a very merry Christmas - enjoy1