JUST when should you put up your Christmas decorations?

I know it’s not now – I’m not one of THOSE people – but when in December should they go up?

I like a Sunday afternoon of snowballs (the boozy sort), Christmas songs (It’s Chriiistmaaas) and sitting on baubles by accident and having shards pulled from my posterior in a similar fashion to a Wild West bandit who’s got some buckshot in the back of his chaps.

I think that latter has something to do with the former.

That gives me Sunday, December 1 which is too early.

Then we’re at December 8, which is a bit too early but the 15th is too late and would have me marked down as Scrooge-type figure in my neighbourhood.

So it looks like December 8 but what’s the etiquette.

You’re supposed to take them down on 12th night – which I presume is 12 days after Christmas.

We leave ours up well into January to be honest as when you box them up for another year, the corner which was formally verdant and host to a million (well 100) blinking stars (faulty fuse on the lights) looks very bare and depressing.

So my question is when can I put up my decorations – and what’s the latest I can take them down?