Column: Christmas cheer starts earlier each year
When my children were younger I used to let them decorate the tree. Yes, it looked as though it’d been smeared in glue and dragged along the floor of a tinsel factory, but they loved it. It wasn’t neat or even colour coordinated. It wasn’t even pretty - it was a psychedelic nightmare, garish, with years of homemade decorations, and topped off with a fairy made from a peg and a paper plate. But the kids loved it, and to me that’s what it was all about. We don’t need bouncing dogs or action-packed Christmas ads to get us to part with our cash. Presents and gadgets aren't important, but friends and family are. As we get older and lose people along the way, we realise this. So you can keep your Black Fridays and advent calendars in October, because I refuse to take part. I'm officially on strike. There are twelve days of Christmas, and the last time I looked none of them started in November.