Sandra, 42, receptionist, single
Over the past years I have just let things slip one by one. I never raised the idea of what I was going to do for Christmas, and would only turn up to a family event if someone made a point of inviting me.
Because of this I have been able to quietly reduce the amount of money I have been spending on useless gifts at Christmas time, and increased the amount I can spend on family birthday gifts throughout the year.
It's all been surprisingly low key, and stress free. I know that if I made a big deal about this then I would get resistance from various members of the family. This way everyone has become used to it without really noticing.
The best thing of all is that no one has given me any guilt trips about not doing Christmas. That is such a relief, as I was really dreading having to fight and argue about my decision.