This year everyone seems to be talking about it being ‘Black Friday’ today, and I don’t remember ever hearing about this before.

For anyone still in the dark, Black Friday’s the day after Thanksgiving in the United States and it’s often thought of as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Lots of shops over there celebrate this with big discounts, much like Boxing Day sales in the UK. This year many online retailers seem to be doing the same thing.

I noticed all this because I’ve just started my Christmas Shopping. While this might seem sensible, seeing that the Big Day is fast approaching, planning ahead always has some drawbacks for me. That’s because Tourettes makes keeping secrets about what I’ve bought very hard indeed.

Every year at this time I have the same battle, so you could say that for me Black Friday marks the start of a white-knuckle ride as I attempt to balance gifts and secrecy.

Wish me luck.