Young Reporter - Has Christmas come too early?

November 2014

When do you think Christmas really begins? Is it at the beginning of December, when you get your Christmas tree out, or as soon as bonfire night is over and done with? As much as I love Christmas time, when I see people buying Christmas tree decorations in October I can’t help but shake my head in despair. The Christmas period is getting longer and longer each year, so how many more years will it take before we even start preparing for Christmas in the summer holidays?

It’s not even December yet, and already I can see people crowding into shops and high streets buying presents, Christmas cards and wrapping paper in their masses. I am honestly horrified at the thought of going to work and serving these manic present buyers on Christmas Eve.

I have found there are two types of people, the early buyers and the last minute worriers. The early buyers hit the shops in early November, buy at least a hundred Christmas cards, 10 rolls of wrapping paper and as many Christmas presents as they can fit in their cars, all in one go and that’s them finished for another year. The last minute worriers are those people who start shopping roughly 4 days before Christmas, they run round the shopping centres at 100 miles an hour and get angry at anyone and everyone who gets in their way. I almost always end up being the latter.

Christmas brings out the best and worst in everyone and the build up is both the most exciting, and the most stressful time of the season. There is no denying that we all smile the first time we see the coca cola Christmas advert on TV, and the John Lewis and Sainsbury’s adverts this year were tear jerkers for almost everyone. But when you have to actually go out into the busy high streets and buy cards and gifts for the enormous amounts of friends and family that you didn’t realise you had, it starts to become a bit of an exhausting burden that doesn’t really end until the New Year. So is starting your shopping early a good strategy, or is it just prolonging the pain? Some people might not mind the pre Christmas rush every weekend, but think I’ll be sticking to internet shopping this year.