The true meaning of Christmas

O. Are you ready yet?

- Susan Lee - Columnist

Are you ready?: The big day approaches

It’s funny, isn’t itany other time of year that phrase could apply to all sorts of things. Ready for winter? Ready for your holidays? For the Strictly final?

But here, with only a precious few days to go, it’s the well recognised British shorthand about whether you've secured enough wrapping paper, bought a gift for Great Uncle Fred and remembered to order the meat.

It's the language of the festive season; an entire lingua franca around December 25th that has been developed over the years.

And just like any other language, it’s not always easy to decipher.

Take the language of love - roses and champagne and sweet nothings whispered into waiting ears. Get that one wrong and you risk a restraining order.