There was an article on the BBC Health website yesterday about how to avoid migraines at Christmas. The suggestions one family were going to carry out were no alcohol, no visits to or from relatives, eating sensibly and getting lots of rest.

I found myself last night in serious danger of thumping someone or something after my sister in law instructed me I shouldn't ask her son to help with the washing up during their stay with us (4 days) as he dislikes getting his hands wet. Said son is now a junior doctor in the south west and I have grave concerns for the safety of his patients if he won't wash his hands with soap and water!

Anyway, it got me thinking about what herbal support I could put into place to help me smile sweetly during the annual invasion of the relatives, soon to be in-laws and various "friends of the family". This is what I've come up with so far.

St John's wort tincture combined with lemon balm and nettle seed and possibly some lemon balm liqueur for the stress.
Hawthorn tincture for blood pressure augmented by some hawthorn brandy liqueur.
Grapefruit bitter liqueur to help with digestion.
Candied ginger to provide another focus for any heat which might be building up!
Maybe some motherwort vinegar and elderflower tea for keeping cool.
Spiced hedgerow cordial in case my knees go too weak from mulled wine.

Any other suggestions? (I'm keeping long walks in the countryside as my fallback position!)

I'm really looking forward to next Monday when everyone leaves. I have suggested to Chris we consider spending next Christmas in New Zealand!

Sarah

Hi Sarah,
I would suggest that rather than take herbs yourself you should give your annoying relatives a good dose of your syrup of figs, that should keep them otherwise occupied!!
Linda

If I said Worrall Thompson had the best idea for surviving Christmas when he advocated Henbane as a salad ingredient and I wonder whether he has some left in his freezer to incorporate into the turkey stuffing, I suppose someone will complain about my reckless cynicism or whatever. Still since the festivity is so universally detested by everyone except divorce lawyers, I wonder why people put themselves through it.

My personal solution is to bar the doors against intruders and stoke up the heating, then take a large bar of chocolate in one hand and a bottle of whisky in the other and settle down in front of Wallace and Gromit. If one is being healthy of course I suppose one could add a bowl of fruit and nuts to the chocolate and since W & G arent on all day then take loads of Bach (Johann Sebastian NOT flowers) as a rescue remedy..I appreciate though that this is no good to those who regard washing-up as part of the fun of Chris-muss as those semi-lobotomised announcers on the telly persist in calling it.

Happy Christmas everyone

Anthony