This article appears as part of the Food Matters newsletter.

We’ve reached the time of year that truly sorts the jolly from the Grinches.  

Halloween, of course, will not arrive until next Tuesday and as such I can appreciate the outrage of those who argue that mince pies and gingerbread men slowly creeping onto supermarket shelves is outrageously premature.  

And yet every year, I’m a sucker for it.  

Maybe it’s the fact that restaurants begin sending out mass emails with festive menu previews in late July (no seriously, they do), or that Glasgow seems to have gone from an unseasonably warm September to wintery October at breakneck speed.  

But I’m loath to admit to being the type of person who will readily inform the office that it's only X number of weeks until Christmas from now until the big day.

And really, where’s the harm in that?  

For a food lover, it really is the most wonderful time of the year, when all of the best things in life like chocolate, cheese and bubbles become not just an accepted but expected addition to any social gathering.  

Read more:

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You can bah humbug all you like, but that very first sight of a tacky pigs-in-blankets sandwich in Tesco has signalled that the countdown has started, and I refuse to let anyone tell me otherwise.  

Earlier this week, while trying to avoid annoying colleagues too much with talk of Wham! vs Mariah Carey, I visited my old stomping ground of City of Glasgow College to meet with chef Gary Maclean who is preparing to publish a new cookbook early next month.  

The Herald:
It’s a beautiful read that takes us on a journey through one year’s worth of Scottish Celebrations with recipes that effortlessly capture the essence of Christmas Eve excitement or the build-up for the bells on Hogmanay.

For someone who is already known to jump the gun when it comes to digging out the Christmas jumpers and selection boxes, just a quick flick through the pages has done real damage to any resolve to wait until Bonfire is at least out of the way before getting into the festive spirit.  

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I’ll be absent once more from the Saturday Magazine pages next week but hope that you’ll return to read the full interview with Scotland’s national chef and do so in the knowledge that I’ll be using the last of my annual leave to get started on the Christmas movie collection without a hint of shame.

T’is (almost) the season, after all.

Gary Maclean’s Scottish Celebrations: Treasured traditions and contemporary recipes from Scotland will be published on Thursday, November 9 price £26.00 (Hardback, Black & White Publishing Ltd. part of Bonnier Books UK)