What it's like to be a lone parent at Christmas

All a lone parent needs at Christmas, apart from cash and caffeine, is the company of other adults who cab make them laugh. That’s it. Hardly ground-breaking, writes Suzanne Harrington

The worst thing about being a lone parent at Christmas is not hauling an eight-foot tree indoors from your car and somehow ramming it upright near a plug socket. Nor is it having to foot the entire festive bill yourself, while dealing with the demands of arsey teenagers who scoff at Santa but still expect a lavish visit.

It’s not all the arrangements you must undertake so that you and the kids don’t accidentally end up home alone on the day itself (you wouldn’t actually care that much, but they’d moan and think it was weird). It’s not even the stark fact that making Christmas magical, perfect, the best ever etc, is all down to you, every year, forever — or until they move out, whichever comes first.