Hi redbaron,
I can see a major problem with the idea of bringing your wife home for Christmas...you'd be pinning your hopes of a nice holiday on her "good behaviour", which you obviously can't guarantee. IMO, you're setting yourself and others up to be on "High Booze Alert" the entire holiday period, which sounds really sucky.
Wouldn't it be possible to just have her over for the Christmas dinner and that's it? That way, the kids would get to see her but you would also protect the serenity of the home for a potential disaster.