The cost of Christmas

“You are starting early,” I said to a woman in the Thistle shopping centre lift as she emerged from the lift with a trolley load of Christmas presents this afternoon.
 
 
“No, I have finished,” she replied with a broad smile on her face. Her friend, just behind her, had a stacked trolley with Christmas goodies too.
 
 
Well, I don’t know about you but the thought of starting Christmas in November dismays me.
 
I am all for a mid-winter festival to lift  spirits during  the long dark winter months but does it have to involve  such a consumer bonanza especially when so much of it will end up in landfill?
Plus, so course the sheer cost  and the global footprint of it all.