Posted via email from Jon Dean

I’m not really all that Christmassy to be honest.  In fact to be totally up-front about it, I’ve gone and broken one of my own rules.

You see, I’m firmly of the belief that you really shouldn’t put your tree and decorations up until the weekend before Christmas.  Any time before then and it’s all a bit commercial in my book.

I’m very against the way it’s all gone a bit too over the top with the shops, where you go into a supermarket on 6th September and there’s a whole aisle devoted to figgy puddings and crackers (actually it was 4th September this year, I made a mental note).

Don’t get me wrong, I do like the holiday period so don’t think I’m all Mr Scrooge about the silly season because I’m not.  It’s just that I want this time of year to be a special time which I can spend with my close friends and family, and if it starts in September and lasts through to January then it doesn’t become special, it becomes diluted.

So, why did I decide to put the tree up now instead of 2 weeks time?  Simple answer is because of Jake and Lily.  Last year they were both a bit too young to behold that magic of Christmas, but this year they’re really getting excited about it, so in the big mushy way I am I buckled and got the decorations out of the loft.

I suppose it’s not too bad, before you know it the 6th January will be here and I’ll be putting all the boxes back in the loft again for another 11 months.

The worse thing is that I know for a fact that by the second week of January there will be a whole aisle in the supermarket stacked with Easter eggs…

Update: Spotted Cadbury’s Creme Eggs and Mini-Eggs on New Years day in Tesco… Shame on you!