Joanna Fortune: My mother-in-law insists on celebrating Christmas early

You need to hold your boundaries and pick your battles. This time of year is exciting for children, as your mother-in-law says, but I also see every day how utterly overstimulating this season can be for them.

My daughters, aged five and eight, love everything about Christmas. I try to keep it as low-key as possible so they don’t get overexcited but already my mother-in-law has started to hype things up, asking the children if they have written their letters to Santa and when we’re going to put up the tree. She has even bought them tickets to see Santa later this month. I’ve told her before that we like to wait until the start of December before doing anything for Christmas but she just laughed it off, saying it’s the best time of year to be a child. I don’t want to fall out with her - however, I’m finding it difficult to keep my temper in check. What should I do?

You need to hold your boundaries and pick your battles. This time of year is exciting for children, as your mother-in-law says, but I also see every day how utterly overstimulating this season can be for them.