And for all the justifiable carping about the commercialisation of Christmas, it’s worth remembering that Santa Claus dresses in red clothes because of an advert for a certain well-known brand of not-so-festive fizzy pop. So that ship/sleigh has probably long sailed/flown.
But hang on, isn’t the start of November more than a little bit early for sleigh bells, presents under the tree, and ho-ho-ho-ing, let alone issuing two-minute-long adverts featuring a young space alien called Skye experiencing their first Christmas?
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Hide AdWe’re sure it’s all very cute and folksy, and, granted, some shops these days seem to be putting up the decorations in mid-June, but if John Lewis is serious about bidding to become part of the actual, real event, shouldn’t it stick a bit closer to the ‘rules’?
They may be unwritten but most of us know what they are and early November is ‘too early’. Handily for them, Americans have Thanksgiving on November 25 to act as a boundary festival, which could be a reason for Scotland to pay more attention to St Andrews Day on November 30.
However, John Lewis is indeed launching its pseudo-traditional festive ad about two weeks earlier than usual, with the department store noticing Christmas-related searches on its website were up 50 per cent on this time last year.
So it turns out the public is pretty much getting what we wanted. And, given the past 18 months and “tis the season for forgiving” and all that, we suppose it’s all right. Don’t worry, Santa will still come. Probably.