THE Tindle Newspapers Cornwall Ltd editorial team – staffers on the Voice newspapers, along with The Cornish Times and the Cornish & Devon Post series – had a festive knees-up last week at the Launceston HQ. I ate too much party food, drank my fill of Nozecco, decimated the Quality Street and scored lamentably in the quiz.

Daughter likes to sleep in my Christmas jumper, which meant extracting it from behind her bed, where it was having a get-together of its own with a colourful collection of odd socks and manky hankies. No time to wash it, sadly; here’s hoping a rigorous shake was enough to freshen it up.

For this home-worker, the occasion was a golden opportunity to remind my colleagues that I exist, and to remind myself that I’m part of a team. It would appear, however, that the term “Christmas Party” is old hat. It should more accurately be referred to as “Workmas”.

I take my lead from Waitrose, which has run social media ads advising people how to celebrate “Friendsmas” – that is to say, a gathering of pals during December. Fancy – we’ve been attending these for years, and never had a name for them until now.

I witnessed one such call-out on Facebook. Beneath it was a torrent of fury from people who took such blasphemous rebranding very seriously indeed. The reaction could be summarised as: “It’s CHRISTmas, for goodness sake!” Or, to put it another way: “Who took the Christ out of Christmas?”

Don’t get me wrong. I wholeheartedly respect the right of bona fide Christians to object to the Lord’s name being excised from one of their principal ceremonies. If retailers were to take similar liberties with Ramadan or Hannukah, there would be outrage, and rightly so.

My main issue with the anti-Friendsmas brigade, however, was that I doubted very much that many (if any) had shown serious religious commitment since singing assembly bangers in primary school.

I hereby present Exhibit A. Several posts brandished the word “woke” as if - like the Happy Holidays card I saw at my dentist’s the other day - Friendsmas was a concerted effort to avoid offending those who practise other religions, as opposed to a naked marketing ploy devised to suck as much profit as possible out of a lucrative annual bandwagon.

The word “woke” triggers different people in different ways. For some, it’s an assault on the values they hold dear, which must be defended at all costs.

In me, it provokes an instant response: on this occasion, to invest in the largest Friendsmas banner possible, swag it over my front door and dragoon a load of mates – and a few passing strangers for numbers – into toasting the season with a shedload of goodies from my nearest Waitrose.

I’ve already done the taste test – I popped in last week to buy something for dinner, only to find members of staff bearing sample trays around every corner. By the time I’d lightened their load - pigs in blankets, smoked salmon, panettone, limoncello mince pies – I had no room left for a proper meal.

Now for Exhibit B. The 2021 government census saw Christianity become a minority religion for the first time, dropping to 46 per cent (27.5-million people) from 59 per cent in 2011. "No religion" was the second most common response at 37 per cent.

So while Christmas may celebrate the birth of Jesus, for many this is a cultural occasion rather than spiritual – a time to spend with friends and family, enjoy some well-deserved rest and recreation, and overindulge in food, drink and sedentary activities (have you marked up your double-edition Radio Times yet?).

I enjoy a carol concert as much as the next person but, while I remember my churchgoing days with fondness, they are some distance behind me. These days, I’m as likely to attend a humorous take on the season - a family favourite being Kid Carpet’s Noisy Nativity in Bristol, in which Mary gives birth in a Travelodge and Jesus is portrayed by a toy hedgehog.

This week, we’ll join friends closer to home at Falmouth Poly for “Christmas. Time.”, a returning two-hander in which the protagonists recreate a traditional Christmas Day in their prison cell. Highlights include a two-minute version of It’s A Wonderful Life, and the King’s Speech rewritten to reflect the events of each passing year. It’s a bit naughty, but incredibly funny.

I wondered if the people who hate “Friendsmas” are the same as those who decry the use of Xmas. When Daughter asked why we write Xmas, I had to look it up: it comes from the Greek letter Chi (Χ), the first letter of Christos, and was used by early Christians to save space.

Whatever you call it, I wish you the very best Christmas/Xmas/holiday possible, surrounded by loved ones and good cheer from whichever retailer you choose.