The eighth day of the Meery Christmas Calendar reveals an activity that is unavoidable, but one which has also transformed in recent years: Christmas shopping!

It was once the subject of many a joke that whilst women were comfortably prepared (having bought presents well in advance), men would often wait until 4.55pm on Christmas Eve to do their shopping. I will admit to having done some last-minute running around, but rarely have I done this for presents.

I ought to draw a distinction here, between gift shopping, and general shopping. After all, Christmas shopping can encompass a lot of different things. There’s food and drink, decorations, pre-Christmas treats, and then the presents. All of these things can involve a lot of running around, especially if you’re not organised, and I have been trying my hardest to be more and more organised as time goes by. I aim to make good use of online shopping for a lot of stuff, as this is pretty-darn convenient, and allows me to bypass the chaos of the shops. I loathe a crowded store, and hate having to fight through throngs of people, so being able to order what I want from my sofa is an absolute win. The only concessions I tend to make are when I am looking for Christmas beer!

Christmas food shopping tends to be something we have done earlier than expected in my household, which has sometimes been to my annoyance, as it effectively writes off a day off, but it can’t be helped. At least it means we have most of what we need tucked away in the freezer, ready for the big day.

Decorations and the like are usually bought well ahead of time, as by December many stores are actually running low on stuff like that.

When do you start your Christmas shopping?