Troy Deeney scored his first Premier League goal since April as Watford beat Manchester United 2-0 at Vicarage Road on Sunday.
The 31-year-old converted a penalty four minutes after Ismaila Sarr had given Watford the lead early in the second half.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Deeney eschewed any suggestion that the goal lifted a weight from his shoulders.
"I've said it before: Real pressure is watching my Mum work three jobs trying to make ends meet for Christmas," said Deeney.
"This is football. I've been injured for three months. It is what it is. We keep working. I'm never going to shy away from a challenge.
"I wish everyone a Merry Christmas. It's got nothing to do with me, these boys have been grafting for the three months I've not been here.
"We've been close for ages now. I know people look at us and see us at the bottom of the league but the performance we put in against Liverpool last week, Leicester before that... there's a lot of games where we feel we should have won.
"We can't get carried away. It was a great team performance, a lot of people did a proper shift. I'm just happy for everyone here that they can have a decent Christmas."
Deeney added that 'Don't take a backward step' has been new manager Nigel Pearson's message to the squad.
"He's been instrumental in getting everyone to work hard, enjoy what they are doing again," said Deeney.
"You can see that everyone is literally throwing their bodies on the line; you saw how we celebrated that last free kick. We wanted a clean sheet, the boys deserved it."
