Christmas spending - Are you going to spend less this Christmas?

Q, the music mag, used to ask its rock star interviewees if they knew the price of a pint of milk; if they didn’t know, the assumption was that stardom had gone to their heads and therefore lost touch with reality. However, the same might apply to all of us, and anyway – what’s a pint? Do you mean in a supermarket or a convenience store? What kind of milk? I’m lactose intolerant. And so on.

Ask the same question about Christmas spending and you get the same problem. I don’t know what I spent last year. I’d be a big head if I said more. What do you mean by Christmas? Do you mean on friends and family or does that include me?

Lets just say, gifts for friends and family bought in the last quarter of the year and food and booze for December 24th to January 2, as a figure greater than normal spend in a quarter. You may not wish to know the answer and it may cause you to start making jam and chutney as presents, but we are just looking for a yes or no.