To try and prevent such a crisis, there needs to be some ground rules. Naturally, your children are not to know these are ground rules as such – after all, Santa is making the toys, you’re not buying them – but the spirit is the same. Before they make their list, tell your kids that Santa is very busy this year and only has time to make a set number of presents. Allocate each child the same number, and tell them they have to stick to it, with one alternate.

Children may not like this, but it’s necessary if you want to avoid debt following the Christmas holiday. It also teaches children a good lesson in channeling their desires to get what they really want; something which will come in useful in later life. Of course, if you find you have a little more cash than you’d expected, you can always add gifts. By asking them to prioritize, you can be sure that more effort and thought will go into the list than if they had just written down everything they could think of.

The fact of the matter is that if you are buying a gift for someone, you already know them fairly well – at least, we can assume so. This means that you know a lot about their likes and dislikes, and will probably have had a few of those conversations where a person reveals something about themselves that not a lot of people know.

Think back to the chats you have had with them, and try to think what stuck out about the conversation. They may have let slip something about an interest that they don’t talk about much. If you can make a gift idea out of that, they will be touched that you remembered and really value the gift.

If you are buying a Secret Santa gift, bear in mind that they won’t know who got them the gift. If it doesn’t quite hit the mark, then it hasn’t violated the law of Secret Santa, which is essentially a lottery anyway.

The fact is that alcohol taken in large enough quantities can make some people behave in ways that they would otherwise never dream of. It may be something pretty minor. The person who for the rest of the year is as quiet as a mouse may suddenly surprise everyone by singing karaoke – and being really good at it. They may still feel the following day that they have made an idiot of themselves and, while this is unfortunate, the fact remains that they may feel uncomfortable around people.

There are other, worse things that people do when drunk. Sometimes it can make a fairly placid person into someone who wants to fight the world – and this is a very destructive thing. Equally, it can make people who would usually be quite chaste into someone who will jump into bed with the first likely candidate. Coming back from this kind of indignity can be very hard indeed. It is OK to enjoy a drink, but it is important to know your limits.

1. Take a bite out of the mince pie / cookie!

It’s so simple, but so often forgotten. If your children leave food out for Santa, make sure you take a convincing bite. The same goes for any drinks left out – take a swig. Your kids will be delighted that Santa enjoyed their offering, and you’ll get something tasty too.

2. Icing sugar footprints.

All you need is a sieve and a white powder – icing sugar pre-mix is best for the job – and you’ve got the tools to make some convincing Santa footprints. Pour the powder into the sieve and sprinkle a route from the chimney to beneath the tree, just like Santa would walk in his snow-covered boots from Lapland.

3. Sign a couple of gifts “From Santa”

A small touch but a nice one. While the majority of your gifts can say “from Mom and Dad”, add in a couple that are signed by the man himself.

That said, there is a reason that the traditions have become traditional. When the first Christmas mince pies were produced, it is likely that the baker who cooked them had no idea just how much a part of Christmas they would become in many countries. People eat them, however, because they like them. Equally, it is not essential to have a tree in your house for the Christmas period – but people do, and have done for many years it does give a certain festive cachet to the whole occasion.

The main thing to keep in mind about the festive period is that people are supposed to enjoy themselves, and this should not be controlled by an insistence on maintaining traditions. The one tradition that should always be upheld at Christmas is that people are kind to one another and find a way to get along, even with those people they would ordinarily not speak to. As for the rest of it, people will find their own way.

Whatever we may think at a given time, no friendship or relationship needs to be considered completely broken if one or both parts of it feel that there is a chance of reconnection. There may be a lot of hurt there, but Christmas allows a focus on things that we thought were lost. It is a time when many people feel that there is a chance for forgiveness, for apologies and acceptance. Whatever we feel may have been lost, we can focus on bringing back the good times.

Of course, Christmas is only here for a month, or a few weeks, and then we have to refocus on the world without Christmas in it. This is when the true test of what has been rebuilt comes, and if we are not truly committed to making it happen then it can still fall away again. But if you feel that you would like to reconnect with someone you had lost contact with, Christmas is the time to make it happen.

It depends, of course, where you live. Because it is in the Southern Hemisphere, Australia has Christmas in the middle of its climatic summer. As well as this, Australia is a temperate country anyway, so the chances of snow at Christmas are roughly equivalent to those of a 100-degree heatwave in New York in January. Even in the United Kingdom, which is known for its cold winters, snow tends to hold off until January for whatever reason. Though cold enough, the snow just doesn’t seem to have that sense of timing.

Nonetheless, whether you live somewhere that gets snow reliably just in the run-up to Christmas and then all the way through, or somewhere where it is unlikely to ever happen, the fact remains that, as a symbol of the day and the period, snow is something that is inextricably linked with Christmas. This holds true wherever you are, and is why we all know what Bing Crosby was singing about.

For children, Christmas is a time of wonder. It would be churlish to say that this is all because of the presents, but it would also be stretching the bounds of credibility to suggest that the idea of gifts did not play a major part in it. Children are quite materialistic – they will want good gifts, as they have to return to school after the holidays and join in the competition over who got what. But at the same time, the ideal message of Christmas – one of friendship and goodwill – is something that children can spread more thoroughly than anyone.

As adults, there are certain harsh realities which do not go away just because it is Christmas. However, there is a way in which the holiday can make us face these realities with a steely determination that they won’t get the best of us. It may be our children who get the most out of Christmas – but we can get a lot out of it too.

The Christmas period does have a financial impact on almost all of us. Having spent the year being careful with money, making sure that we have enough to get through the week or the month, we arrive in mid-December and it seems like someone has dropped a nuclear bomb into our bank account. Money goes all over the place, and is hard to keep track of. When we sit back after the holiday season is over, we wonder how we are going to pay for everything.

Our waistline can also be a concern, because if there is one thing that sums up Christmas more than the gifts, it is the culinary indulgence. Large platefuls, second helpings and leftovers. Party food, party drink and precious little exercise mean that, all of a sudden, we have gained a few pounds. It is no wonder that most people’s New Year resolution is to go to the gym more. But the truth is that, with forward planning, we can make it all go a bit more smoothly. It just takes determination.