It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas … which is, quite frankly, ridiculous.
Everywhere you go there are houses with Christmas trees in the window … and a fair few which are lit up like an outtake from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
Certainly, here in Stoney there are some places where I can’t figure out how they can afford all the cables, glowing snowmen, neon Santa signs and snowflake effects – let alone the leccy bill that must attract.
Are these people trying to be visible from the moon or what? (At this point I will make an exception for those who do it for charity, as opposed to those who do it from a sheer lack of taste).
But even then, no one should be putting up festive decorations yet, unless you’re the council in which case you do need to be illuminating the city centre and opening a Christmas Village to get folk in and spending much needed money in local businesses.
Other than that, at this time of year your Christmas tree should be where it belongs … in your loft.
Just because the shops are selling tinsel, you don’t need to be decking the halls. It isn’t December. For goodness sake, we haven’t even had St Andrew’s Day yet.
In my book, a book taught to me well by my parents, you don’t put up decorations until two weeks before December 25 then take them down 12 days after.
Sure, there are those who love Christmas and can’t wait for it to arrive. But hastening the festivities doesn’t make them special. It just cheapens them, turns them into the ordinary.
Christmas, even for non-believers like me, is a special time. A time for family, a time for peace, a time for partying, yes, but also finding the still point in life, where you can reflect and count your blessings.
If you are doing Christmas 24/7 for the better part of two months there is no calm, no introspection, just splurging, spending and being gaudy.
So, until Dec 10 – that’s next Saturday – let’s try to make it look a lot less like Christmas.
This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.