Christmas.

"This fifty days of preparation is called in their barbarian speech the Exmas Rush."
CS Lewis *

And if only it WAS 50 days, and not 100. Yes, it is only September, and I'm sorry, but I've already bought one Christmas present and I've been thinking of others, in the name of avoiding the Exmas Rush as much as possible. But I saw a display of decorations in a cheap shop at Maroubra Junction last weekend, which made me cross, because all my earliness is being overtaken anyway. And there are ads for office Christmas parties already. And at work I have to think of Christmas card ideas now to get them printed by November, I can't escape it, so I might as well listen to Christmas carols and get into it properly.

*http://www.khad.com/post/196009755/xmas-and-christmas-a-lost-chapter-from-herodotus