'NO' says Nicole Rahimi, organiser of Oxford Christmas Market...

'Apparently people are saying stores are forcing Christmas upon us too early. As soon as summer is over the end of the year closes in on us with stores laying out their Christmas stock.

I am happy to declare that I love Christmas, both as a private person and as organiser of a Christmas event.

As an event organiser I would love to declare: “It is never too early to start preparing for Christmas.”

I somehow hear the bells jingle all year round. I start preparing for December in January. I sigh with relief at the sight of the first chocolate Father Christmas as I know my time has finally come to be able to shout out about my event without annoying people.

Privately, I never say “it is never too early to start preparing for Christmas” as I sure remember the days when I was annoyed by the Christmas display of shops laid out as early as September.

But who says that we have to start shopping that early? For me, it is a happy notice of what is soon to come – my favourite time of the year. And it is actually a courtesy to start thinking about the presents I would like to get. Otherwise the purchase of presents will become a last-minute rush, with others who thought it was too early to think about preparing for Christmas in October.

'YES' says The Rev Dr Michael Beasley, Oxford Diocese’s director of mission Slade sang “Oh I wish it could be Christmas every day”.

'In doing so, they found themselves expressing, perhaps unintentionally, a central tenet of Christian belief. This is that Christians give thanks every day that Christmas happened.

We are grateful that in a stable in Bethlehem, God became a human being. That means we have a God who understands completely what it’s like to be one of us. It also means that, in Jesus Christ, our humanity is now present in the heart of God. So the Church has no problem in celebrating Christmas at any time. It is what we do.

Though not often, it must be said, through the medium of Slade.

If there’s a concern about celebrating Christmas “too early” at this time of year, it is that what is about to begin happening on our High Streets has little to do, in reality, with why churches want to celebrate Christmas. For us, it’s not an opportunity to maximize profit margins, which is what much of the commercial side of Christmas is all about.

But perhaps there is a middle way. For Jesus had a great ability to turn up at parties that respectable religious folk of his time did not approve of at all. He had the ability to see beyond the surface of events, to recognize the gift that lay beneath. Perhaps the challenge is to see the gift we can all share in at this point of year.