Comment: The quest for a festive feel-good mood at home

Are you feeling festive yet? I’ve got to be honest and say that I’m not.

I joined the throngs at the shops on Saturday, hoping to remedy this unseasonal gloom with a massive Christmas tree and a stack of fairy lights, and found that both - much like my festive spirit - were in short supply.

Giving up on decent lights, we squeezed the tree in the back of the car and drove it home for an hour of everyone falling out over which decorations we should use/what should go on top of the tree/who should put up the lights, etc, etc, all while the Alexa belted out a load of Christmas hits.

And that’s not all. Rather than reaching for their old home-made decorations - handprints painted as reindeers and hefty salt dough stars, the kids wanted to focus on the generic shop-bought baubles with no senimental story attached. Sob.

And... Happy Christmas!

I’m sure we’ll all be feeling merry and bright by next week at this time, in what will be our final property section of the year.

After all, nothing says ‘Merry Christmas’ like a Garston area guide and – even more exciting – the unmasking of our Secret Estate Agent.

This is our Xmas gift to you, dear reader.

As our man says in his final outing as a shadowy stock image (p35), he was only meant to be with us for a month, but it’s ended up as eight.

We’ve loved his musings on everything from gazundering to going to the wrong address for a valuation, falling through doorways on viewings and going against the grain as an estate agent by being too honest (honestly).

If you’ve got a question for him about the local market, next week is your last chance to ask.

Until then, we wish you a very merry, beautifully-lit run up to Christmas.