Q. I’m dreading Christmas because my darling partner’s two middle-aged children (both unmarried) are coming to stay and they don’t get on. I don’t want to seem inhospitable by not offering them plenty to drink, but drink does always seem to be the trigger for their rows. What do you recommend, Mary?
– Name and address withheld
A. Change the thrust of the visit into a spa-themed break rather than a festival of gluttony. See if you can book visits from massage therapists who do not celebrate Christmas and therefore may welcome the work. Your partner should communicate with his children that you have begun to worry you may have an alcohol problem. For this reason he thinks it would be kinder if there was no drink in the house, as you might be tempted to lapse. He can tell his children they will still be enormously welcome and he hopes they will understand why this year the focus has to be on health and wellbeing.
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