It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Something tells me that Christmas is just around the corner.

Cardboard reindeer have started to crop up in my local ASDA, television adverts are starting to feature people wearing woolly clothing and sleigh bell-y music, Polardin has reminded me that the German Market is on its way to Albert Square, which is also being visited by a local cabaret singer turning on some coloured lights this week.

Ah, good. I love Christmas, or should I say, the run-up to Christmas. Depending on what kind of gifts you get, the day itself can be a bit of an anti-climax, so I tend to spend all of my juvenile excitement on the weeks leading up to it all, with matters reaching a feverish peak when the double edition of the Radio Times comes out.

Masters of the pre-Christmas fever were Woolworths. The well-known "we don't know what our target market is so f*ck it, we'll sell everything" high street shop never appeared on television for 11 months a year but then used to go the whole, extravagant hog once the festive season approached.

An example of which can be seen in the video below. Hosted by Joe Brown, here's 90 seconds of festive pomp from the early 1980s...and some gift ideas to boot. Enjoy.