I’d like to know when the baby Jesus got replaced by a KitKat?

It is now Advent and Advent calendars are in evidence; in some shops they’ve been available since August Bank Holiday.

Advent calendars these days contain sufficient chocolate to raise your cholesterol levels by 10%, but when did this start?

Growing up in the sixties, when you got an Advent calendar at the start of Advent and not at the beginning of the grouse shooting season in mid-August, behind the twenty-four tabs were pictures of likely presents and Christmas-related things: a spinning-top, some holly, a snowman (especially if your town was twinned with Reykjavik – I think Balham was, but only for 1963).

The flap with the number 24 on hid a picture of the aforementioned baby Jesus. Today, people are disappointed when it’s not the daily output of the Bournville factory behind any of the flaps.

If I were the Archbishop of Canterbury, my Christmas Message this year would be directed at the British Dental Association. I blame them; although KitKat is marginally tastier than cardboard!

Lo, He comes with clouds descending – only this year with added caramel filling.