We were dumped AT CHRISTMAS!

From drinking gin to sobbing on the sofa, here's how they got through it

- MIRANDA KNOX

Christmas can be a joyous time, but if cracks begin to appear in your relationship it can ultimately become a pressure cooker environment.

At best, this means petty family squabbles over who prepares the sprouts or tidies up the discarded wrapping paper – and at worst it can spell disaster for rocky romances.

Here, three women share their holiday heartbreak stories – and how being dumped at Christmas actually turned out to be the best gift in the long run.

‘I WAS LEFT ALONE WITH NO CHRISTMAS DINNER’

Artist and mum-of-three Saj Fareed, 49, was dumped on Christmas Eve.

I was a single parent when I started to date Mike*. He was a lovely guy, very grounded, stable and we got along – he had even met my daughter.

After about three months we decided to spend Christmas together and his parents were going to join. I was very excited, he was going to cook and we talked about what we were going to have for Christmas dinner.

On Christmas Eve, we agreed that I would come over to his house and meet his parents as I had not met them yet.

I bought lots of delicious mini pastries from a local French patisserie to bring along with me and went over with my daughter and met his parents. They were lovely and welcoming. I was full of excitement and I called Mike later that evening to check the last-minute details for Christmas.

He was in the pub watching football and seemed a bit off with me, which I thought was odd. He admitted that he needed space and I genuinely didn’t see this coming.