Why all I want for Christmas is a Covid-19 vaccine that works ­- Catherine Scott

Maybe it’s because the schools and universities are still operating and most people are still either going to work or working from home.

The weather is rubbish and there is a clear lack of the Dunkirk spirit.

It could just be lockdown fatigue but I think it is more the fact that all the things we enjoy have been banned.

Pubs and non-essential shops are closed, but, more importantly, socialising with friends and family, other than meeting one person for exercise, is also banned. In other words, we are having to do all the hard stuff like school and work, with none of the fun stuff.

Although the last lockdown was tough for so many, for others there was valuable time spent as a family which we just don’t have this time around.

It is also very difficult to explain to the children why they can sit next to a friend in class but then can’t see them as soon as they set foot outside the school gates.

I also think the emphasis on ‘if we do this now we will be out for Christmas’ is a worn-out record.

What about the other faiths who have had to forgo their normal celebrations such as Eid and Diwali? The BBC has been banging on about saving Christmas since the beginning of October.

I think most people would forgo their normal Christmas if they thought that was what we really needed to do to get the virus under control and protect the NHS – and protect elderly relatives.

It is a bit like allowing the students to go to university in October, they were promised a proper student experience, the reality has been very different.

We are being dangled a carrot that says if you lock down for a month you can have Christmas, but again the reality will be very different and I just don’t think people buy it this time around.

Perhaps what we need to do is to go back to the essence of Christmas. Forget the massive family meals, which normally end in a row anyway as relatives who don’t see each other from one year to the next inevitably fall out, and the obscene amount of presents.

At the end of the day it is supposed to be a religious celebration rather than a purely commercial one. But maybe that has been forgotten.

I think the only present any of us really need this year is for the promising vaccine announced this week to actually become a reality, so that we can all see our family and friends again and start to rebuild our damaged economy and mental health in 2021 and hope that we avoid lockdown 3.0.