Am still in shock. Though the calendar has been helpful in showing, all year, that Christmas is on Dec 25th yet again I still seem to have failed to get my act together. So am here again in panic mode, as the whole event has crept up behind me, “on rubber heels”, as my grandma would have said.

If you can identify with this too, the only solution of course, is for us to find a way to get into feeling more Christmassy, and get on with it. But how? Here are the things that have worked for me in the past (and some of which I’ll be re-visiting to get into the spirit of things):

1. Think about one thing that you love to do, that you can only do at this time of year. Personally, I like watching “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and the Christmas theme in it just feels too weird to watch in July. You may hate slushy movies, but love Christmas decorations. Or wrapping ribbons around presents. Or an extra hour under the duvet because you’re not going to work. Or eating turkey.

Take your pick. In any event, concentrating on what you do like is, as ever, going to be a bundle more relaxing than stressing out about the stuff you hate.

2. Speaking of relaxing, where is it written that all people above the age of 25 should cease to enjoy Christmas and turn it into one long stress-fest? Decide on the most relaxing way in which you can get everything done, and stick to it. (And yes, if that means people get vouchers, then they get vouchers…and will probably-even if secretly-really enjoy their consequent freedom to choose what they want).

3. People. If you’re delighted about who you’ll be with, enough said. But even if you sometimes feel you’d have more in common with Martians than the people around you on 25th, there is something you can do make things easier. If you drop your expectations, and just allow yourself to observe what’s going on, without any judgement or emotion (exactly as you might if you really were recording the habits of a Martian species), you’re likely to find that your enjoyment increases. Bizarre? Maybe. Effective? You bet.

At the same time, it does no harm to re-focus on the spirit of it all. Many of us aren’t conventionally religious, though we might, if forced to say something in the face of a crow-bar or a census-form, talk about being “Spiritual but not religious”.

However, whatever our beliefs, most human beings can agree that love, of whatever kind, is A Good Thing. Perhaps we can all just start with that thought, express it where possible, and work out the details from there.

Now, if you”ll excuse me, that Frank Capra masterpiece is still waiting to get me into the Christmas spirit…