Surviving Teenagers: 20 reasons why Christmas is difficult

1. Your mother asks you to give up your bed to one of the relatives who's staying.

2. Your mother keeps asking you nip out to the shops for random objects like Sellotape.

3. You're not sure if Father Christmas gives to people who've done their GCSEs.

4. You're going to have to put on an Oscar-winning show of delight on Christmas Day when you find six people have given you a woolly hat.

5. It's possible that no one will remember you need cash.

6. Quite a lot of it.

7. The Christmas tree is nowhere near big enough.

8. It's hard to ignore all the revision you're supposed to be doing.

9. Your best friend has gone to somewhere in Scotland where there's no phone signal.

10. You're not allowed to spend all day playing games on the computer.

11. Your mother keeps asking you to put the rubbish out.

12. Everyone keeps saying, 'So what are you doing these days?'

13. Everyone keeps telling you to wear a coat when you go outside or you'll catch your death.

14. One of your relatives keeps confusing you with a cousin who looks like Gollum.

15. Your mother tells you off for sitting on the sofa watching TV when you could be hoovering.

16. Someone you know has gone skiing.

17. Someone else you know is spending Christmas in New York.

18. The family looks disapproving when they find you in the kitchen with a bottle of beer.

19. Your mother keeps asking you to make cups of tea for your grandparents.

20. You have a sneaking suspicion that everyone else must be enjoying Christmas much more than you are.