Jane Bradley: Shop till you drop – but not on Christmas Day

I like a spot of shopping as well as the next person. I am even, I have to admit, one of those girls who gets extra pleasure from a compliment if I can boast about its cost-effectiveness: “Oooh, this old thing, do you really like it? It was only £15 in the TopShop/Oasis/Office sale!”

But, despite my natural consumerist tendencies, I do think the desperate desire to spend money – especially in these cash-strapped times – is in danger of overshadowing everything else.

However you see Christmas, it should still be that one day in the year where almost everywhere you can part with your cash is shut and you have no excuse but to sit at home, bicker with your loved ones and play board games.

However, according to one report by Rackspace, more than a quarter of people say they will log on to a computer during Christmas Day to nab themselves the best bargains in what used to be called the January sales. And one in five of those people will get up at the crack of dawn – setting their alarms between 12-6am to ensure their place in pole position for the cut price goods race.

A separate poll, by Ipsos Mori, found that almost one in five children under the age of six does not believe in Santa Claus – but parents are still forking out hundreds of pounds every year to ensure that the space under the Christmas tree is packed with as many brightly wrapped boxes as possible.

In particular, sales of expensive electronic toys and games which encourage children to do otherwise normal activities such as reading and drawing through the medium of a computer screen are soaring.

While there’s nothing wrong with trying to grab a bargain, think carefully. Do you really need to do it on Christmas Day while everyone else is enjoying their turkey and moaning about the Queen’s speech? The sales will still be on on Boxing Day. And the day after. And there will probably be another sale in February as embattled retailers work hard to squeeze every last penny from their Christmas stock.

So put the computer away and embrace the ghosts of Christmasses past. The futuristic Christmas can wait.