The lights may be up in town, your neighbours may even have their Christmas trees up but that doesn’t mean that come December 1st you need to cover the house in boxes of Quality Street and finish every meal with a platter of cheese and biscuits, justifying your actions with the old ‘but it’s Christmas’ excuse.

If you go slightly awol from your diet over Christmas that’s one thing (I mean, how many pounds could you actually put on in two or three days anyway?), but if you start slipping up daily from the first of the month, there’s no chance that hot little dress you’ve bought for New Year’s Eve is still going to fit you on the 31st.

Get it firmly in your head that Christmas starts on December 24th and finishes on December 26th. The chocolates can stay out for those three days and just one box will be enough – if you can’t decide between Roses, Quality Street, Celebrations and Miniature Heroes let the Easy Decision Maker decide for you.