Tis the Season...

Here we are at the beginning of December.The family are waking up to a chocolate breakfast courtesy of a plethora of Advent Calendars and there is no longer the excuse of "IT'S TOO EARLY".

But when does Christmas actually start for you. Before I was all coupled up, I only started to feel festive when I had a copy of the seasonal double issues of the Radio and TV Times. I refused to even contemplate doing any present shopping until I had marked out my viewing for the two weeks of Yule. Of course family commitments mean that organisation is a bit more important than it used to be and already much of the shopping has been done and the turkey is ordered and paid for. Mrs S has been instrumental in most of this (cries of surprise can be heard across the land) but I do have to be involved even if it just doing the driving to our local Toys R Us or Smyths.

The opening of the first window in the advent calendar is now the first ceremonial aspect of Christmas. I wonder if you can still get the ones like I had in my childhood. You know the ones with pictures of the nativity instead of chocolates inside (chuckles at the thought of Father Dougal shouting "God, I can't wait to see what's under tomorrow's window. I bet it's a donkey or something." and Ted replying "Really? So, you've changed from your initial prediction of... what was it again? "Ruud Gullit sitting on a shed.") We of course have the now traditional Thomas the Tank Engine and Liverpool FC calendars for the boys and the nontraditional Hello Kitty alongside a Dairy Milk calendar for the girls.

Christmas will really kick off for us on Saturday when we go and choose a tree. We have been sizing up the options for the last few days so even this has an element of planning to it. Once the tree is up (and I've survived the hazardous venture into the loft to find which lights and decorations have survived the last year) we always settle down with a mince pie and a Christmas film. It's probable that a Raymond Briggs classic will be the family film of choice on Saturday evening. But what are the films that you MUST watch during the coming weeks?

For me, Scrooged with Bill Murray and Trading Places must be viewed or it just isn't Christmas. It's a Wonderful Life will get dusted off (and so will the video as we haven't got a DVD copy of that yet).

Have you any recommendations of other celluloid treats for the holiday period that maybe I've missed. Are you a fan of The Inn of the Sixth Happiness? How about Home Alone? What will my mini me's love? I would really appreciate your ideas.

And I'm sure that come 24th December you will be glued to the Santa Tracker but the website goes live as of today.