'Christmas Comes But Once a Year!'

When I was young, the run-up to the Christmas season used to last about a month. Santa would arrive in the big shops, and we children would get excited about our annual visit to see him. The silver Christmas trees would appear on the canopy of McGills, the department store opposite my flat, just as they had the year before and the year before that - in those thrifty days it didn't seem necessary to change the Christmas decorations annually.

But over the years, shops have gradually extended their Christmas shopping season. When my son was small, I used to think it began at half term, in the last week of October. That was when the shops were beginning to stock up with Christmas cards and gifts.

But this year, I was rather shocked to discover that my favourite local garden centre was already setting up its Christmas displays before the kids had even gone back to school after their summer holidays! Lots of other shops seem to be getting in on the act, too - even Lidl!

It seems a bit of a shame to me, as it's hard to stay excited about Christmas when you're thinking about it for a third of the year, instead of just a month. But on the other hand, what about those people for whom Christmas doesn't come just once a year? People who may be having their Christmas celebration at an unseasonal time?

It might be because the family can't get together at Christmas, so they're rescheduling it to fit in with them. Perhaps someone isn't sure that they'll still be alive and well enough to celebrate Christmas in December, so they're making the most of the time they have left. I have even heard of someone who is so mad about Christmas that they celebrate it every day of the year! I don't think I could cope with that much Christmas pudding though!

Why not use this as a trigger for your writing? You could write an opinion piece about how we've lost the spirit of Christmas by having the shops full of Christmas tat for months on end.

Or maybe you'd prefer a short story about someone who is celebrating Christmas in an unusual setting or at an unusual time of year. You might have a central character who is obsessed with Christmas or one who hates it and can't wait till it's over for another year. What would happen if they were thrown together?

One thing is sure - if you want to submit your Christmas story to a magazine, you'd better get a move on. Magazines really do start planning early for Christmas.