These fabulous Christmas displays are in a store off Ermou Street, a famous Athens thoroughfare we walked past on our way back from dinner in Plaka tonight.
My wife and I are finishing our Greek holiday in this sprawling metropolis and we were surprised that such traditional people as the Greeks would erect a Christmas display so far out from December 25.
This is a constant issue in Australia, about how early is not too early to start displaying Christmas decorations and the like.
Our family haven’t always succeeded but over the years we have tried to adhere to the old tradition of the Christmas tree going up on Christmas eve, when the little ones are asleep.
But sometimes you just can’t avoid being practical, and that’s probably what the stores will say if you start telling Woolies and Big W and Kmart we’re hardly over the last Christmas without them forcing us to start worrying about the next one.
The way things are going, an old mate of mine used to say, if we had a countdown to Christmas (so many sleeps to go, etc) it would be the longest one in history – 51 weeks to go.
Eventually, he used to argue, it would start the minute we finished the leftovers on Boxing Day.
I don’t know about that, but if the Christmas displays we get at home were all as good as the ones we saw in Athens today, well, who cares if it’s too early.
Indeed, let me be the first person you know to wish you a Merry Christmas for 2015!
