'Christmas with young children is stressful, but you'll miss the magic when it's gone'

Except for Mum and Dad, who are outside trying to assemble a trampoline in the dark.

Ahh, Christmas that time of the year when parents of young children attempt to create lasting memories for their offspring of a magical time in their lives when they believe in Santa and a sleigh drawn by flying reindeer, and that their meticulously-researched list of gifts is going to appear under a tree in their living room on Christmas morning.

Christmas with young children, while magical, can be stressful.

There is so much to do to ensure Christmas is something your child will remember and try to reproduce for their own children one day.

For instance, shopping for their gifts and finding somewhere to store them away from prying eyes.

Those organised enough to do this in advance will be rewarded when children change their minds about everything on their list in the days before Christmas.

Santa photos are one of many things on the to-do list at this time of year.

Then there are the Santa photos. Just booking one nowadays requires a degree in computer science.

When you get there, you will find the queue has swelled due to walk-ins who couldn't work out the online booking system.

If you go to one that includes pets, barking dogs will punctuate the sounds of screaming children who will face a lifetime of trauma from being forced to sit close to a stranger, despite being warned never to interact with one every other day of the year.

Then there is everything else you have to do.

Erecting a Christmas tree, decorating a house inside and out, and festooning it with enough lights to ensure it can be seen from the International Space Station.

Buying and wrapping gifts for every other family member, friend, school teacher, sports coach or dance instructor.

Creating menus and cooking for your extended family and their growing list of food intolerances.

Taking your children to costly Christmas experiences or extravaganzas – not to mention the school Christmas concerts, carol services, parties and the like.

By Christmas Eve, many have to somehow fit in a normal work day while still getting in some last-minute gift shopping, battling the supermarket crowds and getting a start on your cooking and baking so you have less to do the next day.

By the time you finally wrangle your excited children into bed, you still have to set out the Christmas gifts 'from Santa' and build that damn trampoline in the dark.

Pro tip: Don't do this after a bottle of wine and yes, you do need to read the instructions.

If possible, find someone with experience to help, as there is a knack for attaching those springs that only those who belong to the secret society of parents who have assembled a trampoline in the dark at 2am on Christmas Day know about. You'll thank me later.

No wonder 92 per cent of mothers surveyed last year in the lead-up to Christmas reported feeling 'mentally overloaded'.

The research, conducted for Donut King, found one-quarter of the more than 1000 Aussie mums reported feeling 'very overloaded', with more than half blaming 'Christmas prep and planning' for their stress.

With my children now grown up, I am sure you are expecting me to say I am glad those days are over.

But here's the thing. Despite the stress, I miss the lead-up and those few moments on Christmas morning when my children ran to see the presents under the tree and exclaimed "Santa's been!", followed by fevered unwrapping of gifts.

My children are now too old to enjoy the most magical parts of Christmas.

During their far-from-magical teenage years, they tended to grunt their way through Christmas Day.

Christmas lists full of dolls and trucks and bicycles gave way to demands for skincare products worth a small fortune, the latest model AirPods and iPhones, and designer clothes and shoes.

They opened their gifts with as much enthusiasm as an inmate heading for death row followed by an eye roll and an admonishment that you got it wrong.

Even if you get it right, it won't matter. Because one of their friends got something even better and already posted it on social media along with the rest of their haul.

And that's just the start. They complain all day about everything, whether it is the food you cooked, where you are spending the day and with whom, and why they can't just stay home alone or hang out with their friends.

Merryn Porter with her children when they were younger.

I am told this is a phase and that one day, I might get to enjoy Christmas with my children again.

Down the track, they might even have their own children and I will get to relive that Christmas joy and magic through their eyes.

There is no doubt my Christmas is less stressful than it used to be, but it's also lacking a certain magic. Would I swap it if I could? You betcha!

I wish I could go back and catch a glimpse of those little people on Christmas morning. Maybe build a time machine to the past, where my children are small again, even if for just one magical day.

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