We all know that Christmas shopping starts now well before Halloween, and rises to a glorious climax on Black Friday/Cyber Monday (just look at the web stats for Twitter searches that day and you'll know what I mean).

But Boxing Day is no longer just a day anymore. It has become a week and seems to me to be stretching into two (and in some cases more).

How long can I expect my favourite retailers will be offering awesome deals for this year? Is the trend that it just keeps getting longer and longer?