The internet means that the perfect Christmas present is just a couple of clicks away - arriving on your doorstep in just a day or two.
But the likes of Black Friday, Amazon and click and collect are relatively new innovations.
In the 1950s and 1960s if you wanted to buy a few gifts then your only choice was to go to the shops - and there were no out-of-town shopping centres to make it convenient.
Instead you’d have to battle into town and head to somewhere like Edinburgh’s Princes Street and George Street, home to huge department stores like Jenners.
If you were really lucky your grocer might have the then new-fangled ‘self service’, meaning you wouldn’t have to queue for an age to get a shop assistant to pick all your prospective purchases from the shelves.
Here are 23 pictures to take you back to Christmas in Edinburgh over half a century ago.
17. Market forces
The Christmas poultry sale at the Central Meat Market, in Edinburgh's Ponton Street, in 1965. Photo: Unknown
18. That takes the biscuit
A Christmas display of tins of biscuits in and Edinburgh department store in 1958. Photo: Unknown
19. Dream toy
A brother and sister like the look of toy ponies and a covered wagon in Edinburgh in December 1959. Photo: Unknown
20. In focus
Another must-have present in the Edinburgh of December 1964 was the latest instamatic camera. Photo: Unknown