Skipper Dave Mackay hopes to make it an extra merry Christmas for St Johnstone fans by beating high-flying Inverness this afternoon.
Many supporters will no doubt find a copy of the DVD featuring Mackay and co lifting the Scottish Cup in their stocking on Thursday, and the Saints captain might even indulge himself the pleasure of reliving the experience at some point on Christmas Day.
But while Saints seem to be ending a memorable year on a high, Mackay knows that the only way to ensure that the feel-good factor continues into the festive season is with a victory against Caley at McDiarmid Park.
“Hopefully we can take care of business against Inverness and make it a good Christmas on the football front,” he noted.
“It definitely makes a difference to your mood over Christmas whether you win or lose in the build up.
“On Christmas Day itself you get caught up with the family things but it affects the day or two around it.
“In the losing run we had, the family didn’t know what sort of mood you would be in after games so it is always nice to come home with a win.
“We have got into the top six and now we face teams above us in the league, so it is a chance to claw them back.
“Two months ago if you had talked about possible European places come the end of the season people would have thought you were crazy.
“Even top six looked doubtful but it shows how quickly things can turn.
“Hopefully we can continue this great run we are on with Inverness, Dundee United and Aberdeen coming up.”
And what a run it has been.
Saints have won four of their last five league games and are back in the top half of the table, although Mackay maintains the team is still capable of better.
“We have played well in spells but I think we still have to piece together 90 minutes,” he explained.
“But it’s a good sign that we are winning games and there is still more to come from us.
“Last season we had a lot of clean sheets and it was a huge help to where we finished and in having the cup run.
“We have had a few again recently but you need a bit of luck as well.
“That wasn’t happening to us when we went through a period when every mistake seemed to result in a goal.
“So we were overdue a rub of the green and when you are on a run like this you want the games to come thick and fast.
“They will do over the next couple of weeks but we’re looking forward to it.”
With 2014 drawing to a close, Mackay’s highlight of the year would be pretty obvious to most Saints fans although remarkably the skipper is yet to see the full footage of the Scottish Cup final back.
“My Sky box decided to pack in on final weekend and I couldn’t record with it,” he revealed.
“I have seen highlights but the new DVD will be a chance to sit down and watch the lot when I have a couple of hours to spare.
“My little boy Callum is 18 months now and he’s obsessed with throwing things in the bin and the remote controls have gone missing.
“So I might have to watch it at someone else’s house at this rate!
“Some of the telly at Christmas is murder and the DVD of the cup final could be an alternative to Frozen!
“I might sit Callum down and make him watch the final!”
Inverness visit Perth on the back of a shocking result at home to Partick Thistle but Mackay reckons that makes for a doubly difficult game.
“Maybe it came at the worst possible time for us because they will be hurting coming here,” he concluded.
“But we knew it was going to be a difficult match no matter what their result had been.
“They are still joint second and have had a great season so far.
“They play good football under John Hughes and they have combined that with getting results.
“At the end of last season when he came in they didn’t get the results they were hoping for so the bookies had him on their list for the sack.
“But they hit top form from the start of the season and that says a lot for Yogi.
“He is a guy who believes in the way his teams should play.
“He did it at Falkirk, tried to do it at Hibs and it seems to be working up at Inverness.”