Ghost of Christmas present: Madonna shows the strain on her pale and haggard face

Christmas can be stressful at the best of times.

For Madonna, who is nearing the end of a bitter divorce, the holiday appears to have been particularly exhausting.

The strain was showing as she headed out to dinner on Saturday with friends Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin in jeans and a bomber jacket.

Showing the strain: An exhausted looking Madonna visited London's Locanda Locatelli restaurant where she was joined for dinner by Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow

Her skin was stretched taut and she appeared pale and haggard, despite putting on a smile for photographers.

Madonna's day had been a busy one. She and her ex-husband Guy Ritchie and their children all attended the London headquarters of their Kabbalah religion - the first time the family has been pictured together since the split was announced three months ago.

Kabbalah day: With Lourdes, top right, and Ritchie and the boys, in white baseball caps

Guy, 50, looked scruffy and tired but an onlooker said that 'they [the family] looked at ease with each other'.

A source close to the couple said: 'They have had a lot to cope with since announcing their divorce in October.

'But they always agreed that the children would come first. It has been a rough few months for all of them.'

The pair apparently agreed to call a truce to ensure that their sons Rocco, eight, and David, three, and Madonna's daughter Lourdes, 12, enjoyed the holidays.

Ritchie celebrated Christmas with the boys at his Wiltshire estate. Lourdes spent the day with her mother at the family's London home.

On Boxing Day, Ritchie took the boys back to their mother and stayed until the following day.

It is thought Madonna eventually plans to live permanently in New York but cannot take her two sons with her unless by permission of either Ritchie or an English court.

The Revolver director is keen for his sons to grow up and be schooled in England.

The singer, who has just completed her Sticky and Sweet World Tour, is taking all the children to the Maldives on holiday for New Year.

Scruffy: A tired Guy arrives at the centre with his sons and a nanny

