I am feeling quite Christmassy. Despite the heat, the sunshine…and the fact that I have sweat dripping down my back as I write this…despite all of this I am looking forward to Christmas ALREADY.

I’m not really sure what is responsible for this early bout of holiday fever. I like to think it was the deliciously heavy rain storm we had over the weekend when I happened to be sitting in a very cold air-conditioned car; if I closed my eyes I was almost back in Blighty and felt – for the first time in four years of living here – the real need for a roaring log fire and a nice cup of tea.

Yes, I’ll put it down to that. A slightly more poetic reason than the fact that I went to Ikea today where they seem to be well into the month of December. December 24^th by the looks of it this afternoon.

I was there on a mission to buy armfuls of well priced, half decent looking wrapping paper that doesn’t rip easily (I hate the type that does; it feels horribly cheap).  If you’re lucky and they still have stock, the stuff at Ikea also has the added bonus of not being too Christmassy so that you can use it all year round; good wrapping paper is hard to find in Singapore. They also have nice present-tying string too:

My haul today totaled four red and white spotty rolls, three striped and lots of their brown paper printed with black music notes that will be perfect tied up with thick red ribbon.  I’m expecting this lot to last for the next 12 months, at least, which hopefully means I won’t need to come back to Ikea for another year (this can only be a good thing).

If you know me and we’re friends, you can look forward to receiving a spotty wrapped present sometime during the next year or two.

I know from past experience that you have to attack the beast of Christmas wrapping early.  Christmas is the only time Ikea stock wrapping paper and last year I went around 1^st December only to find that they had sold out of not just paper but most of the decorations.  The 1^st December? I mean, it’s not even sporting to do Christmas shopping before then!

This year though, I am playing by different rules.