The Wire

If you believe the hype, Christmas is supposed to be a magical time of joy and happiness for families to get together, eat, exchange presents and be extremely merry. But for many Christmas is not a time of magic but rather family mayhem. The question is, why must we be so adamant that we have a perfect day when the odds are set against us: lets face it, preparing a banquet meal with relatives from interstate criticise your cooking, can be trying. To top it all off, there’s all those complicated seating arrangements that are necessary to ensure Aunt Maud and Uncle Frank aren’t seated next to each other. Quite frankly, it all seems like a lot of hot bother for a bit of dried out turkey. But according to Director of Kelly Speech Communication, Michael Kelly, there are strategies we can employ to make sure things go smoothly on the day. With planning and knowing what to do when a conflict arises, there just might be a way to find that magic. But before we get to Michael, Kirsten Veness got out onto the streets of Sydney to ask how people manage their Christmas get togethers.