Benussi Blog

Countdown to Christmas…40 days to go

By Diane Benussi

Christmas is for children.

If you are struggling to decide how to spend the Festive Season – especially if the family has been affected by divorce or separation – focus on what the kids would like to do.

For me, the focus of Christmas is my eight-year-old granddaughter. Her mum is single; I am on my own, as is my son.

So, this year, I cast aside thoughts of what I might choose for myself (escape to the sun; a trip to Champneys etc) and thought only of how to make Yuletide special for my granddaughter.

The result? I’ve booked us all in to a Center Parcs resort for a few days. It’s a win-win arrangement: None of us has to worry about buying present (our holiday IS the present); the entertainment is laid on in spades; we don’t have to juggle visits to relatives or have them descend on us, and there’s no expectation of a lavish Christmas Day feast (I’ve simply put in an order to M&S – to be dropped off on Christmas Eve).

Cafe Rouge Center Parcs

We’ll take loads of wet weather gear with us, and spend our time cycling and walking, as well as making use of the extensive indoor facilities. In the evenings, we’ll retire to our comfy log cabin, play games and read.

When we return home, there will be no clearing up to do; no sorting of unwanted presents and no recriminations about whom we didn’t invite to share Christmas with us.

I’ve no doubt my granddaughter will have had a ball. But – though Center Parcs isn’t the first choice of getaway break for most adults – I’m sure that I, my son and my daughter will all feel refreshed and rejuvenated from our time away.

Contrast that with how many people feel after the Christmas festivities are over – which is often jaded, exhausted and stressed out.

Going away for Christmas isn’t a cheap option, I accept. But if you choose somewhere like Center Parcs, whose focus is entertaining children, then kids are likely to be happy for forgo presents (which, as we all know, cost an arm and a leg these days).

An away-Christmas may also suit parents who have recently separated from their partners as it prevents comparisons with previous Noels. It also makes a Christmas Day “handover” of the kids – almost always a disaster – simply not possible.

Christmas may still seem like a long way away, but if you want to decamp for a few days, now is the time to start planning where to go.

And, once it’s all booked, you can sit back and not have to give Christmas another thought until it actually arrives.

• Diane Benussi is senior partner with Benussi & Co