Is Christmas becoming more of a pressure than a pleasure?

As the big day fast approaches, no not tonight’s Strictly Come Dancing final, 46% of people surveyed admit they feel more stressed around the festive season.

Are real Christmases becoming as miserable as the ones in EastEnders? Here the festive fun of 2015.

The Christmas period is celebrated in the UK earlier and earlier each year. As soon as Halloween is over, we see shops transform into something reminiscent of Santa’s Grotto. This retail-led expansion of the festive period is placing undue stress on people trying to prepare for their family Christmas.

A recent study commissioned by Satsuma, took a closer look into the impact of this prolonged Christmas celebration. The research found that over 50% of respondents admitted to feeling Christmas pressure before December. A similar proportion (46%) also said that they feel more stressed around Christmas time than at any other time of the year.

In the 1960s and 70s Christmas shows aimed to lift the spirits of viewers, not depress them further. Here Crossroads in 1972 entertains sixteen million viewers.

This extra stress is not unjustified either, as the expectation to deliver the perfect Christmas can come with a hefty price tag. 39% of the people surveyed admitted to spending beyond their means every Christmas. It seems that love, joy and family time have been replaced with stress, expectation and pressure. A quarter of people surveyed said that they even feel we disappoint or let down our families at Christmas!

With the results showing the average family spend over £350 on Christmas, Satsuma has worked to lift the burden a little, and as an early Christmas present they have created a clever little savings tool. All you need to do is make a few simple changes over the next week and hopefully you will be well on your way to a happier Christmas, even if the television soap operas show no sign of festive cheer.

Even in the beauty of the Yorkshire Dales, Christmas for the residents of Emmerdale is far from fun. (2014)

*Survey of 1000 people in UK