Pandemic life, eh? For those of us lucky enough to have avoided COVID-19, there’ve been a whole load of home-based things to fret and worry about instead.

From ergonomically unsatisfactory home working arrangements to the unrelenting, positivity-sapping tedium of the same four walls and the same few faces, there’ve been low points for all but the most terminally optimistic among us.

While Lockdown 2 has been Lockdown Lite compared to the original version, it’s still been tricky - and our reserves are much depleted now we’re so much further into this new normal.

A lack of any light at the end of this particular tunnel has been a tough thing for many of us to manage, however physically well we may be.

It’s perhaps not surprising that some of us have been reaching for the flashing reindeer antlers a little earlier than usual in an attempt to add a sense of celebration at home. It’s not like we’re able to get that anywhere else at the moment, is it?

Celebs have been proudly posting pictures of their Christmassy homes on social media, with the likes of Kerry Katona sharing videos of themselves getting the tree up. If it’s good enough for ex-members of Atomic Kitten, it’s good enough for the rest of us, right?!

I’m not sure about that. Pandemic or no pandemic, anything earlier than December is too early for me to start digging around in the loft for bagsful of cherished baubles and strings of tangled, partially defective lights.

But however long I’m able to hold off, it’s clear that Christmas 2020 is going to require something extra.

My youngest has already spotted a flashing snowman in a neighbour’s garden and is keen for us to get our own. Or maybe an LED Santa. We’ll be taking the laughs wherever we can get them this year, and even a forced ho, ho, ho will be welcome.