Don Your Way column: Is it absolutely essential Auntie Hilda comes for Christmas dinner?

As well you all know, the coronavirus restrictions are to be eased over the festive period this year to allow three households to get together for five days.

Some have cheered the decision, knowing it will allow them to see loved ones and catch up with relatives while the sprouts and pigs in blankets are passed around on December 25.

At the other end of the scale, many are convinced it’s an asbolute recipe for disaster and that boozed up Brits will flout the guidance here, there and everywhere and by January, we’ll be back in a lockdown situation and a third wave of Covid.

Personally, I don’t quite get the fervour for inviting relatives you barely see from one year next to come round, drink the sherry and fall asleep in front of The Queen.

Let’s face it, in a lifetime, we have 80 to 90 odd Christmas celebrations (if we’re lucky). Will it really make that much difference if Auntie Hilda doesn't come round to snaffle all the Quality Street and have one too many snowballs this December?

We all know that it’s elderly relatives that are most at risk from this horrible virus.

Yes, no-one wants to think of gran or grandad being alone on Christmas Day, blankly staring at a James Bond film repeat while nibbling whistfully on a mince pie.

But for the sake of one day, surely it’s better that they are still here after the festive celebrations to make the most of 2021 when all this madness is far behind us?

I’ll be honest, coming from a small family and with both sets of grandparents no longer with us, it’s not a concern that I have to deal with.

But that doesn't mean I’m selfish I don’t care about those that do have to make these calls.

You might not be coughing, you might not be running a temperature, but is it really worth taking a gamble and potentially seeing the New Year in watching a loved one struggling for breath in a hospital ward, simply because you wanted them to have a few slices of turkey.

Think long and hard and please be sensible.