This month’s health and lifestyle column from Corinne Yeadon, of the Being Better private therapy practice in Skipton

I LOVE this time of year. The Christmas bedding is on, the iconic Christmas tunes are echoing round the house as I drink coffee from my Christmas cup. Yes you read that correctly I have Christmas bedding and make no apologies.

It’s going to be different this year, our beloved pooches are no longer with us and the youngest daughter will be miles away spending Christmas with her boyfriend’s family.

I was resolute I wouldn’t be the mother who pressured and ladled parental guilt on their offspring, which I just about managed. I’d be lying if I didn’t say my tummy felt full of crushed Christmas baubles on hearing her Christmas plans. I flirted with the idea of recreating Christmas Day when she visits at New Year, but decided that’s just creating work and there’s a risk of feeling like I’m waiting on Christmas standby over the festive period.

Emotional states and values can be altered, I was explaining to someone the other day that at Christmas my levels of willingness to forgive and my belief in the goodness of people transcends all manner of sensibility.

I always hankered after a big family Christmas with a jam-packed table full of emergency chairs, but be careful what you wish for, the reality of this was far more National Lampoon’s Christmas than the festive Waltons scene I had envisaged.

This year is going to be undeniably quiet, which is okay. Christmas is never a restful time, but maybe it can be a chilled affair this year? I am a dyed in the wool planner, but I am determined to do things differently and go wherever the fancy takes me.

I will do the Christmas dinner and have certain days with visitors to be catered for, but on the free days I’m going to mix it up. There may be road trips and going rogue with food alternative to the usual Christmas fare.

The structure and routine of a traditional Christmas can highlight losses and change, adapting or redrawing Christmas plans due to changes in circumstance may be necessary and can prove helpful. Merry Christmas!