Christmas is coming.

Unless you live on another planet you cannot possibly have missed this fact - the big stores are all playing Christmas music, lots of advertisements on TV seem to feature food or gifts for Christmas, lights are appearing on houses and the usual claptrap about Winterval etc. are being trotted out in all sorts of places.
There will no doubt be lots of conjecture about whether people of other religious persuasions than Christian find the whole thing of Christmas offensive. The reality I believe is that most people take advantage of the holiday whether it is religious in some way or not and to be frank I don't think they are bothered.
The other thing that amazes me is that we are supposed to be in a double dip recession but if you go into any of the local supermarkets people seem to be spending money as if it was going to disappear completely and stocking up for a siege - the shops are only shut for one or possibly two days and to be frank there will be a range of shops open in Caldmore on Christmas day and you could even get a hair cut if you wanted.
Anyway in case I don't post again a merry Christmas and happy and healthy new year to all my readers (yes both of you).