Year after year, it seems that the festive season is beginning earlier and earlier, mainly due to the numerous shops which think it is wise to start selling Christmas crackers and decorations before all the pumpkins have been sold off at the end of October. However, they may have a point. The well-known ‘Christmas rush’ gets hold of the majority of us each year. Despite the fact that we saw that awesome Transformers figurine set that we know our nephew would love two months before Christmas, we find ourselves wildly running about the high street shops on the 24th December, madly trying to look for all those gifts that we had made a note in our heads to buy. But they are not there anymore. Why? Because everyone else is in the same state and people are settling for gifts that they did not initially plan to buy, and are therefore unwittingly depriving others of gifts that they really did want to buy. So perhaps, bearing this in mind, shops are wise to start selling Christmas goods even earlier each year, in the hopes that some people will do their Christmas shopping before December, and thus avoid the hassle and disappointment of losing out on the perfect gift for that special someone just because they did not get it on time.

On the other hand, is it really necessary to decorate every shop and restaurant with Christmas paraphernalia in November? Does this not take away the festivity, the excitement, the real feeling of Christmas when the time finally comes? One of the most exciting things about Christmas, some might argue, is the atmosphere created by cafés selling mistletoe-shaped cookies and chocolate Yule logs; by excitable children visiting Santa’s grottos all over the country; by the lights that some semi-famous person might turn on on your nearest large, public Christmas tree; by the Christmas-style gift-wrapping paper and ornaments sold in shops. If these things happen in early November, surely the excitement would have dulled down come December 25th? After all, spending your autumn days surrounded by offers on tinsel, fairy lights and wreaths might bore you so much that by the time you usually decorate the tree in December, you do not really want to do it since all the sparkly ornaments have been stuck in your mind’s eye for such a while that you are getting quite tired of them. Another thing is carols – with shops playing traditional Christmas songs almost two months before Christmas, whenever carol singers come to your door, you will be very likely to just slam it shut in their faces (due to being downright sick and tired of the festive, cheery jingles!).