The past 365 days have crept towards the year’s big finale and the Christmas traditions churn out like presents in the big man’s workshop.

Seasonal shindigs and a last-minute work project breathe down your neck like a looming storm.

Lists of presents empty wallets of hard-earned cash, and bills start appearing in the letterbox as though every energy company and internet provider was running four months early for April Fool’s.

Kids cram in late nights seeking out Christmas lights and squirm to find out what Santa will bring them.

Mum begins the annual reprimand of ‘Santa won’t be coming unless you’re nice’.

Dad makes sure there’s beer in the fridge so he doesn’t have to scull sour milk, again.

Others wish more mistletoe was bandied around Australia for the season.

The church bells sing, and family and friends who no longer walk beside us are remembered with a tip of whiskey on the earth and a nod to the sky.

Memories are cherished long into adult years, and adult years turn into an annual formation of cousins and siblings lined up in the back pews at midnight mass singing carols too boisterously.

The churn of the money-making machine begins at shopping malls, with late-night shopping and lay-by and the anticipated Boxing Day sale.

(It won’t be long now until Easter eggs line the shelves.)

Santa poses with kids, and animals, and adults, and the awkward family photo (pictured) sits on the mantelpiece for a month.

Silly hats, and even sillier jokes are told at Christmas parties.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard the one about… What do you call a Christmas duck? A Christmas quacker.

In a fortnight or a week, the rush will have settled, the tremors that started on Christmas Day around the dinner table will quell, and the nephews and nieces would have forgotten their presents and will be arguing about something as mundane as a shoe box.

And the Christmas decorations will remain up long after January 1.

Our staff – Rosey and Donna, Ainsleigh and Clare, and newshound Ella (pictured) would like to you all wish you all a merry and safe Christmas.