So then, were you caught up in the great snowmageddon last week, when once again, the country came to a grinding halt due to winter?

You’d think we’d have got used to it by now; it’s a bit like death and taxes, it’s an absolute certainty that winter will always follow autumn.

I bet the people in charge of keeping the roads clear were never scouts or brownies, because if they were, they’d have been prepared.

Talking of which, the Gateway Theatre is going to be welcoming beavers, scouts, brownies, and a host of other young people when they join us for our Christmas panto… oh yes they will!

We made a small change to our panto programming this year and added an extra matinee show, which is proving very popular.

Being a seasoned mum of two young tearaways, I think the parents and carers are hoping a morning session of fun and frolics will mean the little darlings will be exhausted by early evening.

Experience tells me otherwise, but let’s not spoil the illusion for them just yet.

And just how did it get to be December so quickly anyway?

I can remember making a joke of it around April time, saying to anyone who listens to my theatre office banter, "Soon be Christmas."

Then combined with the supermarkets putting their seasonal lines on the shelves halfway through the school summer holidays, on top of which, in August, my son started playing some well-known festive hits on his Spotify choice, it feels like we went from Cadbury’s Crème Eggs to Lindt’s chocolate balls without so much as a bottle of Ambre Solaire between them.

But if you are suddenly feeling in the Christmas spirit, and want to shake your jingle bells on the dance floor, we can sort you out.

There’s the utterly brilliant Acantha Lang, the West End Jerseys, and the Magnificent Bublé, all performing live on stage, and for the ball-gown gang, we have the screening of the not-at-all ostentatious André Rieu.

Meanwhile, that other well-known big man is getting ready for his star role.

With less than a month to go, have you gone into panic mode?

Now my two little darlings are old enough to buy me a present with their own money, my frantic present-buying days are thankfully behind me.

But if you are scratching your head, wondering what to buy the person in your life, then you can’t go wrong with a Gateway Theatre Gift Voucher, and the best bit, is it’s all done online, so even if we have another snowstorm, you won’t even have to step out of your cosy slippers to buy them.