1. When this came on the telly
2. And then these lads not long after
3. When you heard the Penneys jingle
4. When you were allowed to put the Father Ted Christmas special video on for the first time
5. When the amount of biscuits in the gaff suddenly increased by approximately 78%
6. When this landed into the house from the shops
And the circling began.
7. When you started eyeing up deals in the pound shop as presents for your siblings
They weren’t great but you were hardly going to be buying something proper.
8. When you’ve narrowed down your present selection after about six month’s of preparation
9. When the Toy Show mania was in full flight
10. Suddenly there was a (limited) supply of soft drinks in the house
11. When The Big Big Movie on Saturday started playing Christmas films
Namely, The Santa Clause.
12. If you weren’t from Dublin, your annual festive trips to the big shopping centres was the klaxon you were waiting for
13. Not being allowed eat anything nice in the house, even though there were mountains of food
14. And certain rare brands were now seen around the house
15. You sang along to all the bad words in Fairytale of New York
16. And finally… “santy’s watching” was now said on a daily basis – used as the most effective parenting tool ever invented
And it worked like a charm.
