How early is too early to start celebrating Christmas is a question we find ourselves asking every year. Some scrooges say December 12 while other eager elves bring out the tinsel from September. Most of us are happy to begin singing along from mid-November or as soon as Halloween is out of the way.
For one little shop in the sleepy tourist town of Ironbridge, Shropshire, Christmas is a year round celebration with only one day off - Christmas Day.
Shop owners and cousins, Emily Brown and Kim Warren, put their love of all things festive to the test when they opened The Little Christmas Shop of Ironbridge.
Describing what it's like to be surrounded by Christmas every day, Emily gleefully told The Mirror: "You're always covered in glitter! You'll have it all over your face all the time because of unboxing everything."
The 35-year-old never gets tired of Christmas, despite the festive tunes on repeat all year long. She laughed: "That is a question that we get asked daily. We get the same questions day in day out such as 'Are you sick of Christmas?' 'Are you sick of Christmas by the time Christmas comes round?' and 'Do you listen to Christmas songs everyday?'"
At the moment, Emily's favourite Christmas song is Merry Christmas by Ed Sheeran and Elton John but this has dethroned the iconic All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey. "I think with Mariah, I've been playing it for three years so I'm a bit like 'yeah it's alright'," she added.
Loving the festive period is a pre-requisite for owning a year round Christmas shop but Emily and Kim, 40, shared their Christmas spirit though collecting baubles. Emily said: "My cousin and I, wherever we go, we like to pick up Christmas decorations. So like how people collect thimbles, and magnets - people also collect baubles and that was something that we did.
"When the shop came up, we decided to bring [Christmas] to where we live and make Ironbridge bauble souvenirs for people here to collect."
"It went crazy instantly," she added. "We had queues from the minute we opened the door and then it just didn't stop." Opening day for the Little Christmas Shop was on October 23, 2020 and the shop was an instant success but sadly the doors closed weeks later for the November Covid lockdown.
Undeterred, Kim and Emily pivoted to their online store and hand delivered everything, Emily said: "Everyone loved the shop and wanted to come in but they weren't allowed so we just drove all around Telford delivering to people instead, which was fun. We did love it."
When customers realised the store would be closed during lockdown the queue ended up "down the street" as people rushed to get their hands on the festive stock. They worked late until 10pm some nights to make sure all those who wanted to visit could and handed out mulled wine and mince pies to those bracing the cold.
November and December are where everything "goes from zero to 100" but the business is busy all year round, steadily picking up from about August onwards. The store itself is closed for January but that doesn't mean the cousins get any time off.
"We do the shopping in January, so as soon as Christmas is over we have to pick out all the Christmas stock ready for the next December," Emily explained. "We run pretty much 12 months in advance ordering because if you did leave it until the mid year, you wouldn't be able to get hold of the things that you wanted."
Being organised comes naturally to the duo but choosing what to stock is the hard part as there is so much choice. Emily shared: "We go all around the country, handpicking it all. So you'll find that it's really unique. Me and my cousin we've got different tastes so we try and make sure that there's something for everyone."
She added: "When it does arrive it's like opening loads of presents, because you forget what you've ordered."
No bauble is too cheesy or decoration to odd for Kim and Emily though as they like to sell items for everyone, even the Christmas Grinches. They recently bought some Gremlins decorations, including some adorable baubles of Gizmo in a stocking, as well as Metallica and Iron Maiden baubles for the metal fans.
"[It] pleases those people that are like 'I'm not going in there' and then they find something like that and their eyes light up. And they realise actually I love it," Emily laughed.
She added: "They're like 'oh I don't like Christmas' but then 'Oh I do actually and I love Metallica' and they buy a bauble for their tree that they tell me is all black with black tinsel!"
Gonks and Christmassy candles are best sellers, with the orange and cinnamon potpourri flying off shelves this year. Magic keys that let Santa into chimney-less houses are also a big hit with families wanting to buy some Christmas magic for their children.
The store's window display is a major part of the charm with Kim spending hours decorating and perfecting the snowy scene. "When she does it we're not allowed to touch it," joked Emily. "It's her thing, she loves doing it and she's really good at it."
While the display is always Christmas themed, hints of other holidays feature too with the occasional pumpkin or Easter egg added to reflect the seasons outside. This makes it extra special when it's finally time to start decorating for what Emily calls "real Christmas", which she believes can be done anytime "after Halloween".
She said: "When Christmas actually comes around, it's really exciting. It's not like it's pretend Christmas anymore in August it's really Christmas."
This year, the shop helped out with the Ironbridge Christmas light switch on and also ran a Santa's grotto for children during which the store was overwhelmingly busy. They couldn't even restock shelves because of the sheer number of customers coming through the door - even with someone on the door limiting entry.
Although Emily notes that people have been a bit more conservative with their purchases this year, she thinks as Christmas draws closer this will wash away as the festive spirit takes over.
Family is at the core of this little business so when the big day rolls around it's all about being together. Kim is the "roast dinner queen" and puts on a lavish meal for everyone including homemade roast potatoes and a locally sourced cheeseboard - although she is firmly anti-brussels sprouts.
Emily on the other hand takes a more low key approach, spending time with her husband and girls. She said: "When Christmas Day comes around because we work so hard all year, it's nice to stop and be at home."
