patty, you are so right. Christmas should stay in its place at the end of December, firmly rooted after the Fourth Sunday in Advent. I like to get past the Solstice before embarking on all that merry-making, and people who bring in the tree before Christmas Eve find themselves sweeping up needles at Hogmanay. Twelve days of Christmas is quite enough; we should ration it so we don’t get cloyed and tired of the whole thing.