Divorce day — is Christmas a marriage killer?

The pressure to have the perfect Christmas gets too much

Christmas is a time of extremes. It’s enchanting but decadent, whimsical but despairing, beautiful but stressful. It brings out the best and worst in us. For some couples, the extremes of Christmas reinforce long-standing issues with their marriage. The first Monday of the New Year has been dubbed divorce day by lawyers due to the spike in married couples filing for divorce. So why do so many couples divorce after the festive period?

An idealised version of Christmas has been seared into us like a brand on a cow. Think the McCallister family in Home Alone, only they don’t forget to bring Kevin.

How we perceive Christmas is socially contrived. Its presents under the tree, its happy families coming together to sit by the fire and reminisce about times gone by. Its a turkey and all the trimmings. This archetypal picture of Christmas sets an expectation we all desperately try and conform too. But it’s an unrealistic expectation.

For some, the reality is the arguments when someone in the family opens a gift and didn’t get what they wanted. Your uncle telling the same tired stories he’s had on repeat for years. Or Christmas dinner where everyone politely chews through those raw roast potatoes for fear of…