It’s that time of year when I can’t walk past the crammed window of Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe without stopping to have a look. I’ve got my eye on some tartan Santa decorations and a cheeky looking fairy with dangly legs for our Christmas tree. I’ve even started to compile my own ‘wish list’ on Amazon, not unlike the hours I happily spent as a kid leafing though the back of Kays catalogue putting big bold ticks alongside all the toys I wanted. It’s not even the end of October as I write this, and I can already feel myself gearing up for Christmas, much to Norman’s dismay. But I just can’t help myself. It’s my favourite time of year.

Norman harrumphs as Christmas comes too early for him ...

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The wonderful aroma of cinnamon in coffee shops (deliberately wafted out on to the streets at this time of year, I’m sure), the array of sparkly Christmas decorations in John Lewis, which I always stop to admire on my short cut through the Centre, along with their upside down Christmas trees. What are they all about? Do you think anyone actually buys them? For me, there’s also the promise of two weeks off over Christmas, and of course my birthday before it all (and it’s not my 40th this year so I’m much more relaxed about it). December is in fact a magical month. But there is no reason why October and November can’t be too. Why wait?

I’m not sure who is supposed to be buying me all of these wonderful pressies. I guess it will all be down to Norman, who I tend to affectionately call Scrooge at this time of the year. He’s not such a big fan of the festive months apart from his yearly supply of American Jelly Beans and latest X-box game that he gets to open on Christmas morning. I’d better make sure I send him the link to my Amazon wish list…

But don’t get me wrong. I don’t make Christmas all about me (although Norman would beg to differ as I stick on another Nat King Cole CD, and urge him to have a wee festive port with me). I love to make up other lists too – with those gifts I plan to buy for family and friends and of course Norman. I always buy my dad’s first, and true to form I did it just the other day. A couple of clicks on Amazon later and I had two pressies I knew my dad would love. Because, like me he’s another Christmas fanatic, and starts to compile his Christmas list at the end of summer!

I hope my four-year old nephew never loses his Christmas spirit. I guess all kids, whilst they are kids, have it in abundance. Norman must have had it too when he was younger, trying to work out what the pressies were beneath the Christmas tree. We all did it. The difference is, I still do! Memo to self – I’ll need to ask his mum where it all went wrong, when Christmas became just another day.

I didn’t always like Christmas. I had a few bad years; the moody teenage years when I just wanted to be out with my friends, traumatised at having to be up at the crack of dawn, showered and dressed by 9am (yep – my mum is that way too)…but, thankfully, I grew out of it.

So for all those, like Norman, grumbling at the sight of early Christmas decorations in the shops and the sound of the odd Christmas tune on the radio advertising festive treats, there are a few of us who simply can’t get enough!

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, toys in every store, but the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be, on your own front door…”