These are the top 15 things which negatively impact the nation's festive spirit

Catching a cold, presents not turning up in time, and having to work late on Christmas Eve are among the most common things to get in the way of the nation’s festive spirit.

A study of 2,000 UK adults who celebrate Christmas found almost half - the equivalent of 26 million people - have had their festivities impacted by non-COVID related obstacles in the past.

And one in 10 claim they have never had an incident-free Christmas.

But this year, the nation is adopting an ‘unstoppable’ attitude when it comes to celebrations, with 83 per cent planning to employ creative tactics to ensure their festive spirit isn’t dampened.

These include simply ‘laughing about it’ (33 per cent), going for a walk (31 per cent) and watching Christmas movies (31 per cent).

And some plan to adopt a more energetic approach to overcoming any obstacles this season, with a fifth hoping to dance to Christmas songs, and one in six even intending to do a workout.

Trying to maintain a Christmas spirit

The research was commissioned by Tesco to coincide with the release of its Christmas campaign which celebrates that the festive season is officially back after the disappointment of last year – and in keeping with the iconic Queen track its advert is set to, nothing is going to stop the nation from enjoying festivities.

It also found that when it comes to maintaining their festive spirit when things haven’t gone to plan, the equivalent of 3.7 million people in the UK have staged a ‘light switch on’ at home when forced to miss the local one.

While 4.3 million have hosted a Christmas party at their house to make up for missing the work celebration.

A further 3.7 million have improvised and covered spills on their festive outfits with novelty accessories such as baubles and bows.

And when faced with a broken heel while celebrating, more than 3 million people in the UK have broken off the other one and carried on dancing.

The aspects of Christmas that bring the nation the most joy were named as eating Christmas dinner (51 per cent), decorating the Christmas tree (41 per cent) and everywhere being covered in lights and decorations (41 per cent).