Don’t you love it when the calendar finally flips to catch up with real life?

By that I mean now that we have zoomed past Thanksgiving in all its tryptophan splendor, we can finally zero in on the holiday that all the department stores and hardware stores and internet shopping sites have been focusing on seemingly since the summer: Christmas.

Really, it seems like I was buying fertilizer for the garden and holiday decorations, blow-up Santas, and fake trees already were out. When the marketers say “Christmas in July” these days, they really mean it.

But that’s all past us now and we can really devote ourselves to the granddaddy of all holiday seasons — at least after that fifth piece of pumpkin pie settles.

To help you out, because I know you are busy laying out your ugly holiday sweaters, I went to that thing my mother-in-law calls the internet machine and did some research for you. You’re welcome. These are reported to be some of the hottest gifts in 2024:

• Portable quiet hands-free bladeless neck fans.

• Ecolution patented micro-pop microwave popcorn poppers with temperature-safe glass (no oil needed!).

• Self-help books such as “How to Survive a Freakin’ Bear Attack: And 127 Other Survival Hacks You’ll Hopefully Never Need” by Bill O’Neill.

• And, quite possibly the longest-named product........

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