Unless you have a “perfect” relationship with your family – whatever that might mean – Christmas can make you feel like a failure. Adverts abound, showing glowing scenes of familial “togetherness” around tables groaning with festive fayre. Films tell us saccharine stories in which relatives are reunited and differences put aside against a backdrop of fresh snow and carols sung by winsome, pink-cheeked children.
Take Home Alone: not only does missing his family make former brat Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) realise he actually loves them after all, but the subplot involves an old man reconciling with his adult son just in time for 25 December. It’s a Christmas miracle!
