5 Ways to Avoid CPA (Christmas Preparation Anxiety)
Tinsel addict Debora Robertson loves the anticipation of the big day – as long as she doesn’t get hung up on the actual planning. Luckily, her get-ahead secrets are stress free
RECIPE DEBORA ROBERTSON PHOTOGRAPHS SAM FOLAN FOOD STYLING EMILY GUSSIN STYLING LAUREN MILLER
The first thing I need to say, right now this minute, is that I’m not here to add to your stress like those irritatingly gleeful Christmas displays that show up around about the summer solstice to remind us that it’s our responsibility to ensure everyone has the time of their lives: “Start now! While you still have time!”
When I get caught up in Christmas Preparation Anxiety, which I do (like any other perfectly normal person who has a calendar countdown in her diary for when the Hallmark channel starts showing Christmas movies), I remind myself that it’s just a day. A day that will come and go like any other, whether I’ve spent six weeks or six minutes planning what we might eat, how to decorate, what we’ll drink – and how many tins of Quality Street it would take to build a bunker to hide in until the blessed release of the New Year.
In this respect, Christmas is like that other high-anxiety event many of us impose upon ourselves: the wedding. The week before my own wedding, about a million years ago, I drove everyone within earshot demented as I stressed over the perfect shade of ribbon for the orders of service, whether my shoes were right and had we ordered enough flowers for the church? Finally, as much from love as exasperation, my mother said, “You know, by Sunday you two will be married, whether the ribbon is right or your shoes fit or whatever else you’re choosing to be stressed out about today. And that’s what counts.”
She was right. By any standards, this past year has been a what-the-hell-next challenge for most of us. At times like this, there is a pressure to make Christmas even more special, even more perfect, to make up for what’s gone before. So I’m going to give you my own secrets to the perfect Christmas – as long as you promise me you’ll disregard them if they seem too much, a bit of a bother or not right for you.
1 BE YOUR OWN CHRISTMAS ELF
Of course, I’m going to tell you to get ahead as much as you can (see my recipe for easy chocolate and chestnut cake). Many of the components of Christmas lunch – some side dishes, the stuffing, pigs in blankets, cranberry sauce and bread sauce – can be made ahead and frozen. Just be sure to label them properly. You think you’ll remember what they are, but you won’t, and I am here to tell you fr
