Christmas is now rapidly taking hold of our dwindling focus, our sluggish brains and our grumbling stomachs because the fairy lights are twinkling, the tinsel is shimmering and the Christmas trees have begun their synchronised ascension in homes and businesses alike.

In fact, where is it now that you don’t see a Christmas tree at this time of year, lovingly adorned with their glistening array of decorations? They seem to swallow up all else in their gentle effervescence. But of course, all of these trees have got to come from somewhere; a point that budding salesmen in the local area have picked up on most attentively. Selling Christmas trees is a business as bulging as Old Nick’s sack and every sharp entrepreneur tries to cash in on this annual market.

It’s a formula for a quick turnover, is it not? Rent a desolate shop front for a minimal time period and maximise profit by stuffing it with those beloved emerald beauties. Why this is precisely what several clever men have done at 1 High Street, Whitton, and that Christmas tree netting machine of theirs is certainly working hard. Speaking to a past green grocer who used to get in on the action, he mentioned, “The festive period was the highlight of my business year; there’s a lot of money to be made in Christmas trade.”

All in all, it would seem that, in more ways than one, Christmas spirit is spreading like the snow across our country... thick and fast.