Christmas or Xmas if you can't be arsed writing the whole word, it's either a time to be looked forward to immensley (if you are a kid) or a logistical nightmare of shopping hell (if you are an adult).
I remember feeling insanely excited on Christmas Eve as a kid. The angel chimes were put on top of the telly and the candles lit under it and we were all allowed a snowball each courtesy of my Grandma's stash of Advocaat.
Does anyone drink Advocaat at any other time of year or in any other form than a snowball?
Me and my brothers would put a pillowcase with our names safety pinned on them under the tree and leave out mince pies and a glass of brandy for Santa then go to bed as giddy as idiots.
After waking up and running around like demented bloody banshees the kids would open their presents first, then my Dad would go pick up his mum so she could enjoy the unfeasibly large Christmas dinner before we all had to muck in with the washing up.
Mum excluded as she had cooked the whole thing.
Then time for the adults to open their presents before Grandma hogged the telly and watched Please Sir!' while we complained that we wanted to watch the Bond film.
As I've got older the presents side of Christmas has become less important and the food has taken centre stage, the big dinner, leftovers for tea, mince pies and crackers and cheese.
Don't let big stores hijack it by trying to get you to spend yourself into bankruptcy,at the end of the day Christmas feels special and we should enjoy it as much as we can.
Although I'll be at work all over this Christmas unfortunately.
