Now Christmas is less than a month away, ‘tis the season to be jolly, but some may consider ‘tis the season to be kinky too.

While some people may be most concerned with stuffing the turkey or wrapping presents, we all know some people will be thinking of stuffing something else and doing lots of unwrapping. Even at Christmas, stockings will mean something different to some folk.

If your idea of a white Christmas is to produce such substances yourself rather than hoping for snow (or dying of boredom watching the actual film of that title), you may be interested to learn you are not alone. If you are seeking the best sex toys for couples, you can be sure many others are too.

Indeed, over in the US, researchers have used Google search data to find that around the world, folk are at it more during the various holidays than at any other time of year, based on the number of topic searches for “sex”.

Whether that is Christmas, Thanksgiving, or even the festival of Eid-al-Fatr in Muslim countries, it turns out holidays are a great time to get it on. The reason is obvious; extra time off work means more time and energy, so it makes sense that some will put it to the best use.

However, it’s not all good news. Relationships counselling service Relate has reported that 70 per cent of people find that Christmas can put a strain on their relationships.

Some of that may be hard to avoid when you have to deal with cranky, socially awkward, or generally disagreeable family members who are almost certainly getting laid far less than you are. But you can minimise the time with them and focus on making the most of being alone together as a couple.

Indeed, Relate’s guidance on sex and Christmas suggests that using sex toys can be a great way to spice things up and let you forget about the hectic schedules and stress that can easily be an overwhelming feature of the festive season.

The key is to make sure that you do not over-commit at this time of year. Let someone else host and spend the night before Christmas sticking fingers into an orifice with a handful of sage and onion instead of lube. If you have kids, let the grandparents babysit. In short, make time to make the most of your extra days off.

By doing that, you can enjoy the best quality time together as a couple. Your stockings can be filled with the kind of things you never knew existed as a kid, although you may still want to get your hands on a bag of nuts (and who would say no to a chocolate orange - especially as they do mint choc flavour ones now?).

In short, you can let others get over-excited by the sparkly lights, the figgy pudding and NORAD tracking Santa as he flies around the world (no doubt carefully avoiding North Korean airspace). Instead, you can take time out to play with some new toys. Unlike a lot of things that will be unwrapped this Christmas, you won’t stop playing with them anytime soon.