I get it.
I get why the carols are playing in the shopping centres, the trees are up, the sleigh is waiting for Santa.
I have always put up the tree on the weekend closest to December 1 and then we would wait somewhat impatiently for the metaphorical advent calendar to be opened, painstakingly marking out 25 days that felt like 55.
But now, we of the actual advent calendar, suck on a calendar chocolate as we open that date or we add something festive to a charm bracelet or get a new piece of Lego (advent calendars come with a whole gaggle of commercial opportunity) and then the next day, we repeat the action, wondering what happened to the last 24 hours.
I have a friend last year who told me on December 3 that there were only six days left until Christmas on her calendar. She must have had a faulty calendar because the chocolates had disappeared to places unknown before their due dates. Mysterious, indeed.
All sorts of strange events herald Christmas. And I’m not just talking about big guys in red suits who discovered reindeer power long before Tesla thought about electrically powered cars.
There are elves moving about at night in people’s houses, garage doors with laser light shows and anonymous gifts appearing on doorsteps. (OK, mostly delivered by Amazon).
All of this Christmas mayhem seems to have started early this year.
The office Christmas parties are in full swing (I haven’t been to any, but I’ve done my share of babysitting for my offspring – who have). The carols are out. The stores have turned red and green in their fashion displays.
And it’s still November.
But this weekend, all will change. I will drag my tree out from downstairs and put it in its usual place.
I will pop on a bit of Christmas music and I will tweak the decorations (I always put the tree away decorated so tweaking is minimal).
And I will join the general flurry of Christmas madness. I shall make shopping lists and check them twice.
And you know what, I will smile more. Because the joy of Christmas is infectious.
My 25 days leading to Christmas will end up just a PS on what has already started.
And if we have to be infected by something as a community, I am very happy to be infected by the festive spirit.
