IT'S THE time of year for us all to be indulging in the traditional seasonal activity of watching out for the arrival of the postman in the hope that he might just deliver some Christmas joy.

Sadly, though, especially after the sort of year we've pretty much all been through, the biggest boost to our festive cheer is far less likely to pop through the letter box in our hour of need than it has in the recent past.

And it now looks like there's no avoiding the fact that our very own Ebenezer Lochhead has left us out in the cold at Christmas. And with the non-delivery of our support cheques, the vast majority of us face the very real prospect of facing up to a proper old fashioned Christmas - as enjoyed in a Victorian workhouse.

Even if there did happen to be a swift and effective intervention from the political equivalent of a spectral Jacob Marley rattling his chains - complete with his ghost's of farming past, present and future in tow - it's now far too late for Scrooge McLochhead to get his Christmas cards out on time.

Of course, the cries of 'humbug' which have been emanating from the Rural Payments and Services' new computer system over the past few months ring particularly hollow for those of us who have already received their seasonal demand from the HMRC's Inland Revenue, whom it seems never fails to get to the post office on time.

But as the Bob Cratchits amongst us wait more in hope than expectation, we can't even judge our chances of seeing something in our hands before the turn of the year on any assessment of whether we've been naughty or nice.

For even if you took the trouble to send their Santa letters out not only in good time back in May but also in the new all-singing, all-dancing electronic format, as was requested, there's still no way of knowing if the elves have been able to process your application.

On this front, though - and if you have registered online - it might be worth logging on to take a wee peek into the hidden depths of your account, as I did last weekend, to see if there might be a hint as to when payments were likely to be processed hidden therein, waiting to be found like a shiny silver shilling in a Christmas pudding.

However, what awaited me there came as a shock and provided my own viewing of the ghosts of Christmas future.

Now you no doubt know the sort of cheap-jack people who, rather than posting you a nice hand-written Christmas card, simply put out an e-mail round-robin wishing you all the best for the festive season, whilst claiming that they're only doing this to save the world's resources - and then go on to tell you all about their umpteenth foreign holiday as well as just how wonderfully their children are getting on at school/college?

Yeah, well, the Scottish Government seems to have taken a leaf out of that book and then gone one better. For it has rather quietly and sneakily dropped a pre-Christmas bombshell - in the form of a notification of what your entitlements and support payments are likely to be over the next five years - into the 'communications' box of your account.

It's a sneaky way of fulfilling an EU requirement to update us before the end of the year. Actually, on second thoughts - and for your own good - scrub any notion of logging on.

And if you don't want the small puppy of festive joy which, against all the odds, is still doggedly wagging its tiny tail of Christmas cheer in farmers' hearts to be silenced, then probably best not look into your account.

Now I've no idea if this electronic notification is going to be followed up by something through the post as well. But, if it is, hide the letter under the doormat, let the farm's craziest collie devour it, or at least stuff it behind the calendar until the New Year.

Just don't read it unless you are feeling very strong - and even then you'd better make sure that you have the remains of the festive sherry bottle close to hand.

While there might be a few out there for whom the letter contains some good news of rising support levels, they'll be few and far between - and they'll probably busy popping a grazing tenant or two into the oven to roast along with the turkey. But, for the vast majority of us, the news will not be good.

Of course, the figures come with the warning that they are for 'illustrative purposes only' to give an indication of what payments might be - and we'll neither know the final figure, nor receive our full payments until April.

Now, if memory serves, this time last year more than 91% of total farm payments were sitting in our collective bank accounts - and I seem to remember it was around this time we were told that in order to get a rough idea of what our new payments would be, the best bet was to half what we had been getting in the past and then add a wee bit in for greening.

A whole year later, things don't seem to be much more certain - and nothing is yet in the bank. While the first payment run is due to start before Christmas, even if everything goes according to plan, only a quarter of us might get 70% of our dues before the end of the month - meaning that, at best, 17.5% will be paid out by the end of the year.

Must dash though, I think I hear the postie…