In fact, over catering for just about any occasion is my Modus Operandi (MO).

With every event - birthday parties, Christmas, simply having guests around for dinner - I over cater.

Quite frankly I don't want anyone to go hungry and I like to try new things.

I'm by no means a great cook - no Masterchef contestant here - but I love to create meals and hopefully have the guests walking away full, content and maybe even asking how I made a particular dish.

With regard to that recipe request it will go something like this: "Mix a cup of this, with a pinch of that, and a tea spoon of whatever. Just test to see if it tastes okay. Sorry, but I'm terrible at following recipes, I just like to wing it." Fortunately my success rate is pretty good.

I will confess that I love a good cooking show and I have taken on board many simple tips for my own recipes from these shows.

But I think the Jamie Olivers and Gordon Ramsays of the world would be shocked and dismayed at my approach to cooking.

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The good news is that no-one has starved in my house. The friends of my children rave about certain dishes - although I often wonder if they are just being too kind - and my children love to take leftovers on their departure from our place.

That brings me back to the core of this subject - leftovers. More importantly Christmas leftovers.

I've developed some good techniques for managing this abundant source of food over the years. Bubble and squeak for breakfast is a real hit. And while I am not vegan or vegetarian (although some are in my family) my rule is that you never waste meat. In fact my rule is that you never waste food.

My biggest challenge every year is getting the dessert catering right. For starters desserts are not my cooking forte, but they are much desired features of the Christmas menu so I aim to deliver.

The problem is that everyone likes something different - pavlova, trifle, cheesecake, fruit salad, yule tide log and of course there is always someone who want Christmas pudding with brandy custard, ice cream and a smidge of whipped cream. Yep I can feel my arteries clogging as I write this, but remind myself it is only once a year.

Yep, once a year and that is my dilemma. We are not a family of big dessert eaters and after one, maybe two, servings of the preferred sweet treat enjoyed over a couple of days, no-one is hitting the fridge for more.

Considering that I hate waste of any kind the reality of dessert leftovers that remain leftovers disturbs me a little... no, make that a lot. The shelf life of such food options is limited.

Needless to say I've decided that someone, or two, is going to be disappointed that their dessert preference is not on the menu this year.

I think my preference - yule tide log - will be the first scrapped. That's okay. Easy to make but a little messy. Now the struggle of who next will be disappointed. The days leading into Christmas could be challenging.

And I still have little idea on how to reduce, or manage those dessert leftovers. Maybe freezing some items is an option but for the most part I think those dessert leftovers will need to be eaten within two to three days. No wonder everyone puts weight on at Christmas.

I would love to hear our readers' solutions to pleasing everyone without over catering.