get off lightly
Even though I lloked the word up in the dictionary , I cannot be sure about the menaing of "lightly " in this context:

"The head of the house usually got off lightly at/ during ( I don´t know which word is missing here) Christmas- lightly , that is , where personal effort was concerned.

Does " got off lightly " mean : the man took it easy at Christmas and did things very calmly ?

Thank you very much

Question

get off lightly
Even though I lloked the word up in the dictionary , I cannot be sure about the menaing of "lightly " in this context:

"The head of the house usually got off lightly at/ during ( I don´t know which word is missing here) Christmas- lightly , that is , where personal effort was concerned.

Does " got off  lightly " mean :  the man took it easy at Christmas and did things very calmly ?

Thank you very much

Answer

Get off lightly means generally means to avoid difficulty or to avoid severe punishment.  It can also mean that the consequences could have been far worse.  Here it is suggesting that that head of the house doesn't have to do much work at Christmas.  Work here is referring to helping with the preparations.

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