I should be more upbeat on a Sunday but...

So once again it's November. It's cold, it's wet, it's depressing and to make things worse, everywhere you look there are Christmas ads and decorations being stuffed down your throat. And while we probably won't get much sympathy from the turkeys of the world, the cantankerous grinches among us have to endure a good seven weeks of this nonsense before it's acceptable to officially embrace the season and go on the piss for 7 days straight.

The right attitude to adopt however, is always a perilous decision; whether to gouge ones eyes out with candy cane or indulge your inner child and get into the spirit of things?

It is undeniable that there are certain moments in the middle of all the Christmas carnage that signify the true arrival of Jesus, Santa and the boys for another one of their annual bachelor parties like no other; the Coca Cola ad and the Kellog's ad being two pretty obvious ones and having Christmas without these moments would be like having a secret Austrian sex basement without the incest.

The flip side of this however, could almost be considered distasteful.

I was in Dunnes about two weeks ago and they were already balls deep in Christmas warfare.

Dining sets with tables and chairs, fancy cutlery, crackers... the works. It's worrying.

Buying stuff that far in advance of Christmas is a pretty high gamble.

You might estimate that you'l have six people for dinner this year and get that upgraded dining table with the fancy chairs, but what happens if the baltic winter that's been forecast takes a hold of Grandpa Joe and he doesn't quite make it to the 25th?

Or if that new friend your wife's been harping on about from her yoga class turns out to be more than just a good friend? Then you'll be left holding the Christmas bag and there won't be any toys in it, just a massive credit card bill and a great big ball of depression.