• Prepare the week before by clearing all the ‘public’ areas of your house of extraneous clutter - if the house is full, landings and hallways will become congested so the less clutter there is the more comfortable people will feel - box or bag things up in the cellar or under stair cupboard . . . . if it’s still there in Spring and you haven’t missed it or used any of it perhaps the charity shop might have a need for it instead!
• Ensure that you have a good stock of towels and bedlinen ready - 4 or 5 people staying for a few days can wreak havoc with your laundry and the last thing you need is to be catching up on laundry when you have guests Good heavens is there no end to the goodies Tiscali Reader Offers can provide! Towels, bedlinen and more bedlinen......
• Air rooms every morning to banish condensation and keep them fresh - all that cooking and all those people can leave houses feeling musty and room scents can be overpowering for allergy suffererers
• Ensure that all the main lights in principal areas of the house are fitted with energy saving bulbs - the days are short and the lights will be on a lot. Hallways, kitchens, living rooms and stairwells can remain lit at all times keeping the house aglow without costing a fortune - create accents in each room with occasional lights as necessary as night falls but avoid making it either too bright overhead or too dark in corners - after all you want people to spread out a bit to avoid being cramped.

Entertaining

• If you have a large family party staying, take it in turns to take the kids en masse to the park . . . allowing the grown-ups (and you) some quiet time.
• Avoid rows by making sure that different groups get entertained at different times and that you have enough time for yourself - if you are run ragged, your tension will pass to your guests.
• Lay in a stock of good magazines and light reading material, everything from Country Life and World of Interiors to Sporting magazines, puzzle books and books of miscellany that offer amusing short-term diversion
• Zone the entertaining areas of your house - perhaps the living room can be set up with a playstation and some DVDs for the kids whilst adults may be more comfortable in a warm conservatory or large kitchen, this leaves the dining room for dining and nothing else (after all, why have the hassle of clearing up before every meal if it can be avoided altogether)
• A return to older-fashioned parlour games such as Charades spares everyone the horrors of Christmas TV and can be much better at breaking the ice . . . with drink in hand you can be sure that grandpa or aunty will have everyone in stitches before long, humour transcends generations.
• For those whom the crowd gets too much and who prefer more solitary pleasures, popular games like Sudoku can amuse (check out The Sudoku Game (only £4.99 from Play.com) and challenge your friends and family to beat you.

Present giving

• Stagger present giving - kids first, of course, perhaps in the morning followed by the younger adults and the grown ups in the evening before dinner with little stocking fillers to stop the kids feeling left out - that way you’re spared piles wading through piles of paper and baubles all over the floor at once.
• Keep a spare cardboard box handy in the under stairs cupboard or cellar - just add wrapping paper, ribbons and the like to the box and compact down with each session . . . you can recycle the contents after Christmas
  

Food and Drink

• Make sure ladies aren’t left to handle all the entertaining by nominating the gents to organise meals and drinks for a couple of evenings - let the boys show off their culinary skills.
• Make sure that there are plenty of fresh vegetables, fruit and salads in the house - dietary health is more important than ever at such a time and its lack is often the cause of ‘stress’.
• Ensure a good stock of wines and soft drinks for unexpected visitors and to ensure that entertaining goes with a swing - a good choice avoids arguments (what’s left will be yours so all the more reason to make good quality choices . . . such as those from Tiscali Wine Club
• Leftovers can be a pain - both in terms of storage and repetition. Make sure that your Turkey, goose, duck or beef is roasted but plain - the plainer it is the more you can dress it up in different ways over succeeding days.
• Game birds revive splendidly when grilled and dressed with caramelized red onions with black olives and sprinkled with balsamic vinegar and black pepper and served with a large fresh salad.
• Beef works really well if cut into strips and then rapidly fried in sesame oil with sliced red peppers, sliced green beans, sliced ginger and garlic, sliced mushrooms and courgette before being set aside and dressed with a small amount of brown sugar, pepper and a mild soy sauce prior to being served over noodles. Dress the whole with coriander leaves, fresh chopped green chilli and a squirt of lime juice.

Lastly, avoid being too organised or too meticulously planned - things will always happen to blow the best laid plans off course. Allow time and gaps in the day for yourself and your guests - a little quiet time can be more healing than constant gaiety. For example, if grandma want to stay in while everyone else goes out, let her. You never know, there may be a gorgeous fruit crumble with custard ready and waiting for everyone when they get back. Finally, remember to put your feet and and give yourself a treat when they have all gone home.