Every year time rushes by at an increasingly dizzying rate and it seems like we’ve only just finished getting the pine-needles out of the carpet from last Christmas before it starts looming on the horizon again.

While Christmas is a joyful, festive time filled with merriment, family and friends; if you’ve ever played host at Christmas, you’ll know it can also be a military operation, rife with complex catering strategies, stealth missions to go behind enemy lines and deploy stockings to the correct beds, and covert liaisons with faction leaders on the politics of present-giving.

To boot, each year the high street starts displaying their Christmas wares earlier and earlier and trying to find a bikini for August bank holiday amidst a sea of baubles can be frustrating to say the least. But, submitting to the premature barrage of tinsel and candy canes might just be a very wise thing to do. We all know that Christmas will be upon us before we have time to say Noel and stocking up early means you can enjoy the festive preparations for even longer, while knowing you won’t be sprinting down the high street on Christmas Eve.

If you’ve got this far without celebrating Christmas – to be honest, it’s unlikely – then fear not, many online retailers such as Isme.com have everything from Christmas trees to advent calendars. Or if you just need to replace those baubles that Uncle Geoff smashed last year after one sherry too many, they have those too.

As well as decorations everything from toys, clothing, electrical goods and home furnishings are available from many online catalogue shopping websites.