AJ has a rule: no Christmas anything before Thanksgiving. I’ve never had Thanksgiving before, so it struck me as a rather late embargo. My rule is it’s Christmas when I smell Christmas, be that the beginning of October or 24th December (and yes, smelling Christmas in the air is totally a thing).

Anyhoo, Brown Thursday is now over (I honest-to-god heard it called that on the news last night) so I can finally — finally — watch The Grinch. I’ve been having a hankering for it for weeks (he is my spirit animal, after all). Tomorrow we’ll have to start thinking about presents. Christmas dinner is already planned, and I’m going to be introducing the in-laws to mince pies and piccalilli. In return, they’re making pecan pie and sweet potatoes with marshmallow. I can’t wait!

Top tip: Amazon users, if you don’t already have Prime, start a free 30-day trial. You can set it so it won’t renew immediately and you’ll get free 2-day shipping in the meantime. Win! And if you’re struggling for gift ideas, the new Fire tablet is on sale for only $35 until Sunday.

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Kate Aaron

Born in Liverpool, Kate Aaron is a bestselling author of LGBT romances. Kate swapped the north-west for the midwest in October 2015 and married award winning author AJ Rose. Together they plan to take over the world.