Now the festive season is officially here, I’m allowing myself to get into the Christmas spirit. I’ve already added Netflix’s festive film offerings to my list, I’ve re-downloaded Mariah Carey’s Christmas classic to my iPhone and I’ve dug all my decorations out of the loft.

There are so many things I love about the festive season. The twinkly lights, mulled wine, an excuse to eat lots of delicious food and of course PRESENTS!

However there are also a few things about Christmas-time I’m not so keen on. The short dark days and long cold nights, basically stealing from my savings account to buy presents for my loved ones, the weight gain from all the delicious food and SPROUTS!

And now I think I need to add these Christmas themed dating trends to the naughty list!

Over the past few years we’ve had to expand our vocabularies, with new terms for offensive dating trends popping up all the time.

Such as Caspering (the friendly way to ghost), Orbiting (creeping on someone’s social media in the form of likes and views but not making any direct contact), and Gatsbying (posting on social media with the intent of gaining a love interests attention)…

I could go on, but I won’t.

So watch out for these three ways someone could Krampus your Christmas.

Scrooging

If you haven’t read or watched Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge was the main character who was known for being a miser, in other words a stingy a***hole. Scrooging is when the person you’re dating, so as not to waste money buying you a gift , either pulls away or outright kicks you to the curb (I’ve been watching a lot of Sister Sister recently) before Christmas.

If you’ve ever been Scrooged then you should breathe a sigh of relief as you’ve had a lucky escape. There are so many affordable and cute gifts that can be purchased (personally I love a scented candle) if it’s too soon for an all out romantic gesture, that someone who thinks Scrooging is the way to go deserves a ‘Bah Humbug’.

Marleying

Another term we can thank Mr Dickens for. Named after the character Jacob Marley whose ghost pays a visit to Scrooge on Christmas eve, although he’d been dead for 7 years. Marleying is when an old flame, decides to slide into your DMs around Christmas-time. This is usually because people have headed back to their hometowns for the break.

We’ve all been there, cold nights make us want to get cosy. Christmas movies always seem to end with soulmates finding each other, or families coming together and this can intensify feelings of loneliness. Towards the end of the year we tend to be a lot more introspective and this can also lead to nostalgia. Hence reaching out to a former lover may seem like a good idea.

However not every ghost of Christmas past should be welcome, and sometimes we may need to remind ourselves that this relationship probably ended for a reason. The new year is around the corner and it’s best to look and move forwards.

Snowglobing

We all know about ‘cuffing’. Well snowglobing is the shorter sharper version and usually only covers the festive season as you’ll find yourself single again by new year. Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year but sometimes the magic of Christmas and all the jollity it brings can blind us to the fact that the person we’re dating isn’t quite right for us. The pressure of having to face extended family over the Christmas break and running the gauntlet of ‘Are you still single?’ questions can also drive some to panic and move at a quicker pace in the run up to Christmas only to realise soon after it’s not what they want.

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Christmas is a time to spend with the people we love, so first of all focus on you, your family and your friends. Which will help you to enter the new year with a lighter heart, mind and purse (even if the scales won’t say the same). And my wish for you in 2022 is that you find a love to last longer than your resolutions!