Stephanie Worsop: Put the Christmas stock out early I say!

There's nothing wrong getting into the Christmas spirit early. Photo / Getty Images

OPINION

Unpopular opinion: I love it when stores put out their Christmas stock early.

Christmas is my absolute favourite time of year so the minute Yuletide goods hit the shelves I'm in heaven.

The tear-jerking Christmas movies - The Polar Express always gets me - the carols playing in every store, decorating the tree and wrapping presents, reading A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens; it all adds to the anticipation and excitement for the big day.

When I walk into a department store and see the new decorations, the Santa sacks and the hot chocolate mug kits I am filled with a strong sense of nostalgic yearning that seems to be reserved just for this time of year.

My husband and I also have a Christmas Eve book exchange tradition so even a trip to the bookstore around this time gets me excited for end-of-year celebrations.

What I'm getting at is the earlier I can start indulging in my pre-Christmas rituals the better and nothing gets me in the mood more than seeing Christmas-themed window displays and hearing Last Christmas by Wham!'s George Michael.

Once upon a time, a store would at least wait until its purple, orange and black Halloween stock had been cleared out before replacing it with the red, gold and silver baubles that have come to symbolise the most wonderful time of the year.

But this year it seems many of the big chain stores have blurred the lines completely, putting the nutcrackers and angels out alongside witch costumes and jack-o-lanterns.

Of course, with this the cacophony of disgruntled Ebenezer Scrooges rang out on various Facebook pages, whinging that it's far too early for Christmas stock and nobody needs to hear bleating carols for two and a half months.

But I wholeheartedly disagree and I'm prepared to die on this hill.

And here's why: Who is it hurting if commercial outfits start advertising Christmas early?

I understand Christmas is a traditionally Christian holiday and not everybody celebrates it.
I understand people disagree with how commercialised the holiday has become.

I understand for some people Christmas is a stressful, financially-straining period.

But none of these factors are influenced by how early or late the shops start stocking their shelves.

The flipside though is people like me, who are happiest at Christmas time because of all the serotonin cute train sets and matching reindeer ornaments give them, get to revel in the season a little longer.

There is plenty of issues going on in the world at the moment - people getting into the Christmas spirit a little earlier than usual isn't one of them.

I'm going to refrain from putting up my tree - for now - but if you see me in Farmers with a trolley full of Christmas decorations, please don't dob me in to my husband.