According to the rather pointless but eminently focused website, xmasclock.com, there are only 133 days, 9 hours, 54 minutes and 26 seconds (and counting) until the Big Day.
Our office manager, Rachel, is going to need every precious second.
For her, Christmas is racing towards us at a mind-bogglingly frantic pace.
How so?
Rachel has just completed a knitted advent calendar (yes, you read that right) comprising 24 mini-stockings, helpfully numbered so you don’t even have to count them (see pic).
And if that were the end of the matter, it would be impressive enough. But no!
This is only the first of twenty-three sets.
And that amounts to a whole lot of knitting. Another 528 diminutive Santa socks to go. We can’t even begin to calculate how many stitches she will have to fit into the remaining time.
But Rachel remains undaunted and assures us the timescale presents no problem. She even insists on stating, for the record, that no elves will be harmed – or even involved – in the production; it will be all her own work.
The mini-advent-stocking-calendar contrivances will be presented to their respective recipients – a plethora of uncles, aunties, brothers, sisters, cousin, nephews and nieces; not to mention old Granny Homer herself – on 30 November, just in the nick of time for the December kick-off. Each Lilliputian toe warmer containing a gift from a list that includes rain-mate plastic hats, emery boards, hand cream, mulled wine sachets, perfume and many other thoughtful little goodies.
So here’s to Rachel then for a fantastic idea and wonderful undertaking. Twenty three people will have their days well and truly made when Christmas inexorably rolls around.
We take our hats off to her. Our socks having already been knocked off.