Christmas is fast approaching- only a shocking 40 days to go (!!!) until the majority of Britain will be sitting with their family in their front room watching Indiana Jones or Toy Story, eating mince pies and playing with the newly received gadgets or gifts.

Personally, I think the Christmas season hasn’t started properly until the Coca Cola advert has started to be shown on tv- the seasonal jingle of ‘holidays are coming’ is reminiscent of many many Christmases, and is the only contemporary signal of the holidays which is shown every year and which everyone is familiar with.

However, aside from all the festive memories and the annual tradition of spending some valuable time with family, another, less- known “thing” about Christmas which I enjoy hearing about is how the rest of the world celebrates the holiday, and particularly, the folk-lore about Father Christmas.

Although the current image of Father Christmas is derived from German-American Thomas Nast’s annual cartoon, beginning in 1863, most of us don’t want to associate a character synonymous with pure happiness and joy with the dark world of advertising. However, the personality of Christmas we know today was standardized by the advertisers of the 1920’s.

The most well-known image of Father Christmas, as typified by Thomas Nast.

Nethertheless, the personality of Santa Claus, as called in America, Saint Nicholas, Sinterklaas, Kris Kringle, Pere Noel, Saint Basil, Father Frost or Babbo Natale is celebrated by children (and adults) across the world, which is a great point of interest to join the whole world together.

Whatever your beliefs in Father Christmas, or Christmas in general, look great whatever you do: www.devoted2vintage.co.uk, particularly check out the stunning selection of women’s coats.

And Happy Christmas for 40 days time!