With just days to go until Christmas, stress levels will be starting to rise. Presents yet to be bought, family get-together arrangements still to be finalised and meal plans only at the drawing board stage. The logistical nightmare that overshadows many people's Yuletide can take away much of the pleasure of this supposedly peaceful and happy time.

Fractured families often feel the burden of forced Christmas jollity most keenly, but it's far from plain sailing for unified ones.

I often hear people - women, mostly - talking about their dread of the Festive Season and how they long for everything to be "back to normal" once it's all over for another year.

Interestingly, I hear almost as often those same people say, afterwards, that, actually, Christmas was a lot better than they expected. In fact, it was pretty much okay.

I use the word "interestingly", because when people talk like this, it makes me wonder at the state of their marriages. Despite the organisational stresses and strains, Christmas should be a time to really relish being with your nearest and dearest. If your overriding reaction is that it was "okay", perhaps your relationship with your partner isn't everything you imagined it was.

Put it this way: if the most magical family holiday period of the year is simply mediocre, then maybe your marriage is in serious trouble

Without wishing to pre-empt the situation, I suggest that if Christmas proves a damp squib this year, it might be that in the New Year you need to take a long, hard look at your marriage.

You may decide to work at improving the relationship - you know the drill; counselling etc - or you may decide that "okay" isn't good enough. Whatever conclusion you reach, the beginning of a new year is a good time to plan a fresh start.

You may think that because of the recession there's little choice but to put up with a poor relationship - you and your spouse simply can't afford to split up.

The fact is that credit crunch or no credit crunch, marriages will continue to break down and couples will continue to build new lives for themselves. Money and property are important, of course, but what is more important is whether or not you're happy. If your marriage doesn't fizz even amidst the Christmas lights, it is time to take stock of what really matters.