Suzanne Harrington: My Christmas will be less about spending, and more about connecting 

Normally, the what are you doing for Christmas question starts bubbling up just after Halloween. Who is going where, who is doing what with whom, who is on the never-again list, and how much it’s all going to cost  — financially, emotionally, environmentally.

Like the friend who feels obliged to visit her family every Christmas in Auckland, spends all year paying it off, and is greeted with a shrug. Or the couple whose respective relatives start pressuring them around July about who gets to be with the grandchildren on Christmas morning — they ended up in couples therapy because of it.