At this very moment, thousands of people around the country are partaking in one of the great festive rituals: putting up the Christmas tree. Depending on your style, this means either an annual trip into the crawlspace (or garage, or wherever) to retrieve the dusty box that houses your plastic monstrosity or a visit to a Christmas tree farm where you will buy a real tree that will inevitably end up rotting on the street by early January.

Either way, the first of December is generally agreed as the correct day to begin this process.

Without trying to be the Grinch who stole Christmas, it’s time to step away from the tinsel.Credit: Michael Howard

Of course, some will go early, the same people who........

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