[Aliantha]

OH yeah, you can walk into any supermarket and get a ham right up till Christmas Eve and after, but if you want a really nice one from the butcher (if your butcher happens to smoke his own meat for example) then you need to order. I usually choose this option because I don't like the preservatives they use in the mass produced hams.

There's no official start to the Christmas season unless you observe the religious ones. It mostly just starts creeping up around the end of October and by mid November we're in full swing.