Her Christmas, honestly: Kim Palmer, founder of Clementine

How ready am I? 3 out of 10

I think I’ve bought one Christmas present. One. But I’ve got lots of ideas, and that’s the bit that matters to me.

If you don’t have ideas, that’s when things start to get a bit sketchy, isn’t it? Because then you panic and buy things nobody wants. And not only that, you overspend, and I hate overspending. So no, I’m not stressed. I haven’t bought loads, but there’s definitely some good thinking going on.

How much of Christmas sits with me? 5 out of 10

I have to be very, very honest here. For at least the last five years, my husband has done pretty much all the Christmas shopping for our two boys. He’s really good at their presents.

I don’t have a massive family. It used to be my parents, now just my mum, and my two sisters’ kids. And, to be fair, I do normally end up buying some of the presents for my husband’s family, because otherwise his mum would get hand cream. Again.

He does all the cooking, because he’s a much better cook than me. I get all the nice treats and do all the dishes.

We don’t host. Our families live abroad, so we have Christmas on our own, which makes it very, very easy and not stressful.

Am I looking forward to it? 9 out of 10

This is going to sound really bad. It is lovely to be around the wider family at Christmas, but I often find it a little bit overwhelming. So many people. What I want at the end of a busy year is to be totally chilled.

And this year it’s exactly as we want it: quiet, at home, and chilled. My husband’s a teacher, so he’s off too, and we get to spend a lot more time together as a family.

If we could skip the whole lead-up to Christmas, I’d be a 10.

The bit that actually stresses me out

The most stressful thing about Christmas isn’t Christmas. It’s the lead-up. And it’s started already.

It’s that time when everybody says “oh, we need to catch up, we need to squeeze in a catch-up”. All the Christmas parties, invites to this, invites to that. My social battery runs a lot lower than a lot of people’s. I don’t like feeling like I’m doing things all the time, and when I do something, I want it to feel exciting.

So I’m a little bit stressed already, and I’ll be putting in some firm boundaries very shortly. Only the things I know will make us all feel really, really good. And that’s not just for me, it’s for the boys too.

My non-negotiables in December

• Keep walking, even if it’s raining and I’m freezing my butt off.
• My wind-down, at least three nights a week. (Here’s my wind-down routine.)
• A tonne of turmeric tea.
• A bit of space before I say yes to anything. I get very excited, say yes, then regret it. So I’m really locking into “let me discuss”.

How much of Christmas is for me? 7 out of 10

I don’t normally ask for much. The thing I ask for every single year, without fail, is for our boys to stop fighting with each other. It drives me insane. I don’t want any presents. I really just want them to be nice to each other. I don’t think I’m asking for too much.

It’s a bit strange for me, too, because my birthday is on Boxing Day. So I get to celebrate the next day, which is really cool. Although sometimes not so cool, because you’ve eaten so much on Christmas Day you don’t really want to celebrate. So I take it a little bit easy on Christmas Day.

Christmas would feel easier if…

…I didn’t have to compromise on my time and energy. I know we’re lucky: our families live abroad, so we get to do it our way. If they didn’t, there’d be a lot more compromising, and I’m not very good at that.

Do I wrap as I go, or cram it at the end?

Hahahaha. We totally cram it, on Christmas Eve. The wrapping is shockingly bad. But by that point we just want a gin and tonic and to relax, so we power through it all together.

The bit I wouldn’t miss for anything

Our Christmas Day. We have quite a routine:

• Up early, a light breakfast together.
• All our presents.
• A family walk.
• Home for a beautiful lunch, cooked by my husband.
• Everyone snuggled up in pyjamas for a family film.
• Kids to bed, then another film, just the two of us.

It’s just absolute bliss. Totally chilled. I love it.

And most days after that

Our routine is very quiet and low-key, and we looooove it that way. Over the Christmas holidays we do the same thing most days: a walk, a family board game, a family film, and a gin and tonic.

Why change what works? 😉

Wreath or no wreath?

Sometimes, but not always. I’m not wedded to it. If someone invites me to make one, I love making them. But I wouldn’t say it’s a to-die-for Christmas ritual for us.