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Not only was last Christmas a financial nightmare but my sister was at loggerheads with my stepmother, the fairy lights fused, the turkey was overdone and the dog ate the honey-glazed gammon. Could it get any worse? This year, I vowed to myself, things would be different.

I decided to come up with a foolproof plan to not only survive the festive season, but to do so with elegance and aplomb. After all, it is the season to be jolly, and I wanted to have some fun too.

As every woman knows, it’s impossible to have fun if you’re feeling overweight and can’t fit into last years jeans, let alone that new strappy backless number you were planning to wear to the New Year beach party. Solution: low fat nibbles. When preparing your Christmas dinner or attending Christmas office parties always steer yourself towards the low fat, healthier options. Granted it’s not as fun or tasty as that warm, flaky mince pie, but neither is cellulitic thighs and a flabby waistband. Instead of crisps, sausages and fried nibbles with dip, reach for the crudités, light crackers and lean meats like chicken, which haven’t been fried. If there isn’t a low fat dip option, try to dab your nibble lightly into the cream cheese and chives as opposed to heaping it on and balancing the excess on your fingertips.

The same goes for Christmas dinner. Prepare lots of veggies with your roast and potatoes, use olive oil rather than vegetable or sunflower oil and investigate low fat sauce options. There are loads of recipes out there which use fat free yoghurt and cottage cheese instead of cream and crème fresh. Simple steps ensure vast savings in the calorie department.

Obviously during the festive season you’ll be eating more than normal, so be sure to step up your exercise programme too. Or make sure you get one if you don’t already have one. Give yourself a gym membership as an early Christmas present or a new pair of running shoes, whichever turns you on and will make you go that extra mile. Not only will you feel entitled to that extra helping of turkey, but you’ll also feel great from the endorphins buzzing around your body. Now is the time to start, not when post Christmas guilt set in!

Ironically Christmas draws families together, but it also provides an opportunity for family tensions to come to the fore, especially if you have an extended family with loads of steps, attachments and hangers-on like mine. The way to deal with this is to keep it simple and stay out of the firing line. It isn’t your problem if your sister decides to unleash a decade of repressed emotions onto your unsuspecting step mother, or your niece pulls down the fairy lights electrocuting the cat. These things happen. The only response is to smile, pour yourself another glass of chardonnay and say (to quote Bridget Fonda in The Point of No Return), “I never did mind about the little things.”

Families will love, hate, argue, support, tease, ridicule, laugh and cry with one another. If you’re lucky enough to have a family, embrace each and every one of these emotions. There are some people out there alone on Christmas day.

It’s important to psych yourself into the Christmas spirit. This requires more than dusting off your old Boney M LP and depressing yourself by realising how fast the years have flown by. Get yourself some sparkling new Christmas decorations (or if you have the time, make some) and throw a “Tree-decorating” party. Enjoy the sunset, open a bottle of zesty ‘white’ and let the house be filled with the spicy aroma of pine kernels. When you’re alone at home, turn up the volume and belt out your new Christmassy compilation CD. Don’t forget to shock the neighbours by singing along loudly and out of tune.

Before your family and friends come round, decorate your house with candles, scatter spicy aromatherapy oils around in strategic places, like behind the sofa and under the table, hang lanterns from trees or houseplants and dim the lights. It all creates a relaxed and serene atmosphere that will soothe the most antagonistic of intentions.

If you can afford it, it always helps to pop down to your local beauty salon (don’t forget to book yourself in before hand) and treat yourself to a French manicure or a facial. That extra confidence boost will make you glow long after the event itself. Now that you’re looking good, why wait for New Year? Slide on that strappy backless number, sprinkle some fairy glitter on your face and rejoice in being with your family and friends. Oh, and if you have pets, keep them well away from the honey-glazed gammon!