It’s wet, it’s grey, Easter eggs are in the shops and the Christmas decorations are...long gone?

Despite it really only being the ninth day of Christmas, it seems fewer of us now hold-out until the 12 drummers have drummed before dismantling the tree.

Superstition suggests leaving the decorations up beyond the twelfth night after Christmas can bring bad luck. A glance along my street would suggest there’s very little danger of that.

Many homes in our neighbourhood – ours included - started tugging at outdoor lights and lifting wreaths from doors long before the clock struck 12 on New Year’s Eve.

I know of at least three households who like to take the entire lot down very early on Boxing Day – giving the day an entirely new meaning behind its name.

For those counting their 12 days of Christmas from December 25 – UK tradition suggests you would take the decorations down on January 5.

While those starting from Boxing Day - and choosing to also mark Epiphany when the three wise men were said to have visited baby Jesus – may argue not before January 6.

Either way – in years gone by it has usually meant households cling onto Christmas for the first week of the new year.

As a youngster I can remember our decorations had staying power into January and being able to squeeze out the last drops of Christmas during that usually dark and dismal first week back at school. (Even if that was just the thrill at finding a forgotten chocolate decoration someone hadn’t yet snaffled off the tree.)

The same can’t be said for my children – as the school uniforms came out last night, the last of the decorations went away.

It that because we just lead busier lives now? And the thought of any Christmas clutter getting in our way as everyone throws themselves back into work and school is too much?

Perhaps it’s the quest for a New Year, New You? Driven by TV and the internet, the diet and fitness industry is now in overdrive and maybe the sight of last year’s Christmas decorations don’t sit well with a clean slate, fresh start and the promise of change?

I’ve certainly lost count of the number of celebrities or ‘influencers’ suggesting the days between Christmas and New Year are for off-the-scale levels of productivity and if you’ve not stripped your house bare and cleaned it from top to bottom then you’re doing ‘Twixmas’ wrong.

Or is it just that the Christmas creep has truly crept?

And with festive fayre now in all the shops by mid-October – we’re sick of the sight of Christmas by Boxing Day?

Commercially thoughts have already turned to Valentine's Day, Mother’s Day and Easter, as retailers attempt to capatalise on the next big occasion, and we’re steadily being conditioned to follow suit?

Creme egg anyone?