Ring out those bells again

It's feet chilling degrees below zero today, and the heating, big coat and hat Glinty gave me are definitely staying on. And over the past few days, Borehamwood and Willesden have been covered in a charming array of tasteful Christmas lights. People who know me will be surprised to know that I'm quite happy about all this. But that's because the lights are going up at the end of November, rather than early October like last year.

The optimist in me thinks that the CRIMBO (Christmas Must Be Observed) mafia have learnt their lesson, and the festive season is slowly being pinned back into December where it belongs. It's one thing to enjoy Christmas day when it happens and to enjoy picking out presents for your loved ones the day before; it's quite another to allow yourself to get carried away on the tide of premature panic, stress and false expectation about Christmas that seems to strike people down with nearly three months to go. I think things went too far in recent years, and it's time to roll it back and just chill out a little about the whole thing. It's only Christmas, for Christ's sake.

Maybe Christmas this year will be shorter, cheaper, and just a bit cooler. But we'll talk about that closer to the time.