Gosh I remember as a schoolgirl, hundreds of years ago, how some of my friends came from much larger families and Christmas present buying was sorted via the good old mail order catalogue.    Each child was given the massive, shiny ‘bible’ and allowed to select presents/clothes/gifts etc up to a certain value.  These were then obtained by Mummy Santa and wrapped up to be received with glee on the big day.  I always thought is it was a rather cold and clinical way to approach the season of living giving, but now I akm older, there does seem to be some sanity attached to the procedure!  These days there are fantastic advertisements on TV and social media – glorious technicolour images of hapy families sat round a heaving Christmas dinner table, eating their way through an unimaginable number of calories.  There are also many pop up ads on video sreaming sites now – in fact one has to pay extra to opt out of the adverts – it’s huge business and very effective.