It’s becoming almost as much of a tradition as Christmas itself now to remark how it starts earlier every year.

Christmas products seem to take the place in the supermarket where the Halloween goods were stocked, once we reach November 1. 

Perhaps if Halloween hadn’t expanded, US style, into such a big event, Christmas would instead follow the ‘Back-to-school’ season into shops instead.

This trend is particularly noticeable when you speak to friends or visitors from other places. People from countries whose big celebration is on Jan 6 will find it even more mystifying. Americans are confused by Christmas in November as their Thanksgiving traditions (another festival that involves visiting family and having a roast dinner) mean that the start of Christmas is inevitably held back somewhat. 

They can’t be too smug though, as they’ve given the rest of the world the delights of ‘Black Friday’ and ‘Cyber Monday’…

It is easy to sneer at this – either on the grounds of the naked commercialism, or the losing of the distinction between Advent and Christmas, or if it just all being a bit brash and vulgar.

This year part of me has been wondering though, perhaps we should at least in part embrace the longer period of decorations and lights.

As has been noted already by others in this series, many people are finding life tough and worrying, the state of world affairs can lead to a certain amount of despair. 

Or if like me, you struggle with winter and a lack of light, why not enjoy an extended period where a different kind of light brightens up the scene? 

Christmas to my mind is more exciting in the anticipation rather than the reality, so it’s as well to begin enjoying it early rather than in the traditional 12 days of Christmas, by the end of which we’ve all gone back to work and the regular routine.

So when it comes to my usual tendency to pour scorn on the early decorations, perhaps we shouldn’t be down on it. After all, much in the world at the moment is awful, and we could do with as many nice things as we can get. I’ve heard people talk about the desire to put their tree up – not under pressure from their children, but with ritual of doing so acting as a form of self-care in troubled times. 

After all, the purpose of Christmas is to provide light in the darkness. Many historians think that the Christmas celebration ended up at this time of year as there were a number of well observed pagan festivals at this point in the calendar that could be hijacked for the purpose. In a pre-industrial society, the cost of lighting meant that winter was quite literally dark, the turning point in the year towards the days getting longer again was a big deal.

It is striking how much of the cultural iconography we associate with Christmas now and that is played in the run-up every year, was created in the glam rock era of the mid 1970’s. Think Slade, ‘Lonely this Christmas’ and ‘Believed in Father Christmas.’

As a child I often assumed the over-the-top celebrations were a remnant of a happier time that we’d be too miserable and anxious to muster now.

Thinking about it now, it may also have been a reaction to the time people were living through. 1973, the year of the Slade song, was also the year of the Yom Kippur War, the oil shock and the three-day week.

Those events seem to echo all the way to current events, and perhaps, when life is hard, we need the celebration ritual even more than normal rather than wishing to avoid it all together. We are looking for that light in the darkness.

Which is a long way round of saying – if you felt the need to put your decorations up early this year, then fair enough – sometimes we have to grab a slice of joy where we can find it.