h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There tend to be around 10 people of four generations at my parents for Xmas lunch, each with their own foibles - some don't like Xmas pud, some don't like stuffing, and so on

For years, Mum would worry, worry, worry every Christmas Eve and Christmas morning - had she done enough potatoes? were there enough alternative desserts? should she do another batch of stuffing? Should she do another choice of starter? She worried so much she didn't enjoy it, which meant neither did we.

So one Christmas a few years ago, I made myself a complete pain. I weighed and measured everything on Chritsmas Eve - how much stuffing, how may potatoes for roasting, which desserts we did and so on. On Christmas day itself I made a note of what each person had for a started, what they dished onto their plate and what they ate. I made a note of what wasn't eaten. I listed which desserts people had, and on Boxing Day I typed it all up onto Dad's PC, and put it into an obvious folder on the desktop. I printed a copy out and stuck it in the Christmas section of Mum's cookbook, where it would stay safe until next December.

Mum thought it was a waste of time, but the next year when she started the questions, I had chapter and verse on the answers. We saved ourselves a load of work, as we didn't make the things that hadn't been eaten the year before (except for a small margin of error) and we saved a lot of worry.

Of course, I made a note that year as well, to take account of kids growing up and so on, but it was a lot easier from then on, and we've done it every year since - what a difference!