Christmas comes earlier every year, don't it?

This year, the day after Remembrance Day, ie the 12th November, my next-door neighbour put up her Christmas decorations. She wasn't alone. Within a week they were up all over the place. By the end of that week a local shopping street did its big Xmas thing, with the lights, even a petting zoo complete with reindeer- and all a week earlier than last year.

I am not so naive as to wonder what this is about, at least from a commercial perspective. But the ordinary citizens who buy into a Christmas that begins in the second week of November: what are they on? Could it be something to do with an issue I discussed a couple of weeks back, namely, letting go? Or in this case, an attachment to something that hasn't even happened yet?

When I was a kid I started to get excited about Xmas once the advent calenders started to appear. Opening each door was such a delightful process, though even then there seemed to be an awful lot of them to open before the great day of the presents finally arrived. I say, preparations for the Big Day should not begin until December has dawned. This still gives everyone 24 days (surely adequate for anyone who hasn't got some serious form of Xmas OCD) to get their acts together, and by everyone I include the stores. Stop trying to make us feel all Cristmassy no sooner than we've binned our poppies- it's crass, man!