In case you didn't know it, Santa has a soft spot for China.
From early November the plastic cut-outs of his rosy cheeks, blue eyes and frothy beard watch you from every doorway, window and shop front.
Christmas decorations and the ubiquitous versions of Jingle Bells become the most competitive games in town, with no self-respecting business wanting to be left behind.
Golden balls, flashing lights and white plastic Christmas trees have all come to the party in infinite numbers. Hotel lobbies and shopping malls are an extravaganza - glitz and choirs singing carols pump up the volume wherever five stars are found.
And mind not to trip over the life-sized faux Santa statues that shake hands and utter ho-ho-hos to entice shoppers.
Two decades ago, few people in China had any idea about Christmas or what it represented - in the minds of some it was simply associated with sordid capitalist behaviour. The notion of Christmas being a religious holiday to commemorate the birth of Christ still goes largely unknown.
It is instead celebrated as another embraced Western tradition to party, meet up with friends and exchange the multitude of promoted gifts available online.
ABOUT THE BOTTOM LINE
Dun Che Lao Ren (Christmas Old Man) might even put in an appearance in some homes to drop presents into muslin stockings or entertain office workers, who welcome the break.
While it is difficult to find accurate figures for the number of Christians in China (Wikipedia says 31 million), some of this number celebrate by illuminating their houses with paper lanterns and decorating their trees, known as "Trees of Light", with lanterns, flowers and paper chains.
But, as with all traditional celebrations the world over, when the veneer of religion or culture is scraped off, the bottom line is for retail barons to encourage spending.
Come late November, hotels of every description in Beijing are promoting their Christmas dinners.
Prices are not for the faint-hearted. A decent spread at most upmarket hotels will set you back between $180 to $250 (R2,500 - R3,500).
MILKING THE HOLIDAYS
Christmas in China seems to start the whole chain of marketing that stretches from mid-November to Chinese New Year at the beginning of February and Valentine's Day in mid-February.
It's a time for anyone selling anything to milk the festivities for all they're worth, and the public are kept seduced with bargains, sales and specials in all their creative guises.
When the teller at a supermarket that caters for foreigners in Beijing greets you, she is wearing a Christmas hat that perches awkwardly on her head. She manages a smile and an enthusiastic "Merry Christmas", having been seemingly told to say that to every foreign customer. It resonates subtly with the Christmas carols that are piped into every shopping mall, restaurant and coffee shop and even with the Subway Santa I see on the way home.
That set me thinking about how cultural celebrations all have a similar intention. They revolve around feeling good and getting together with people you care about.
Ironically, the further we move from the source of the celebration, the more eager we seem to be to celebrate it. So the celebration becomes the reason and not the source. It's an extension of modern behaviour and has little to do with disrespect of tradition.
From the heart of Beijing, the explosive commercialism that is Christmas has mushroomed countrywide and is labelled by some as a Chinese phenomenon.
What probably began in the past as a way of garnering business with foreign visitors has taken on a life of its own, been assimilated and become a Chinese version of a birth that was celebrated in Bethlehem 2018 years ago.
On a positive note, at least most people in China now know the words to Jingle Bells .....