Let them know it's *not* Christmastime

I recall that last year I wrote a blog post about it being too early to be thinking about Christmas, even though the world seemed to be already strong-arming me into preparing for decking halls and trimming trees. As Scott Mills proudly declared this morning on Radio 1 that he had just played the first Christmas song of the year (as per his yearly tradition, Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You) I felt that familiar stubborness boil up inside me. It's too early for Christmas!

So I checked the date of my post last year and back then I apparently got as far as 6th November before I got stroppy about Christmas beginning to take a major hold on the population. However today is 21st October. More than two weeks earlier than last year. At this rate we'll be getting Christmas catalogues through the post on New Year's Eve by the year 2032! We haven't even had Halloween yet!

What with Mariah's dulcet tones invading our airwaves this morning and having booked a group Christmas party just last night myself, it's already starting to feel a bit too real for my liking. What's more is that you should have seen the restaurant's bookings diary for December - we were lucky to even get a table and our chosen date is only about a week into month!

I am now starting to feel the pressure to go Christmas shopping though. Colleagues and friends are starting to brag about how they've already bought so many of their gifts and just the other day we had the family talk about price limits for presents. Also, annoyingly, if I wanted to order anything from somewhere like the USA I do indeed need to be thinking about that sometime in the next few weeks to make sure it arrives on time. Plus with so many Christmas parties to attend you kind of need to spread the cost of your gifts over a couple of months (easier said than done - November and December are both 'break the bank' months for me). So, ok, I guess the present-buying side of things is acceptable, for practicality's sake if nothing else.

However I do draw the line at Christmas music so early in the year. We all like a bit of Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree and Last Christmas but if you start hearing them every day from mid-October they kind of lose their shine by the time you're sitting down to your turkey and the Queen's speech. With Scott Mills threatening to play one every day between now and then, it's another reason to be very glad that Chris Moyles is back on the breakfast show from Monday.

In the meantime, just like last year, I suppose I best start gift-hunting. God bless the Interwebz!