So, who won Christmas in grocery? The answer, of course, is the Lincolnshire Co-op, with a cracking 12.6% like-for-like sales uplift.

There will be dancing in the streets of Lincoln this evening, make no mistake.

The discounters caught the eye with some seemingly pleasing top-line growth numbers for December and some bombastic anecdotes around premium private label sales, but with lots of new floor space being put down and the stores awash with seasonal top-end ranging, it’s beyond my limited analytical skills to work out how well they actually did.

The showing from Marks & Spencer and Waitrose was less impressive than initially thought, once calendar vagaries and financial footnotes are disassembled, while Sainsbury’s delivered a steady-as-she-goes update – a strong showing in online, convenience and clothing perhaps undermined to an extent by the absence of eye-catching multibuys in key categories in the larger stores.

With Asda likely to be bringing up the rear again, and Morrisons impressing with a big four-winning like-for-like uplift, the stage was set for Tesco.

Sparkling numbers

The supermarket giant’s numbers – while on the face of them unspectacular – carry within them a treasure trove of encouraging sparkles.

The headline figure, of course, is the 0.7% Christmas like-for-like growth in the UK.

Beyond that, there is the more encouraging momentum for the wider third quarter, the first market share gains since 2011, creditable like-for-likes in food and some exceptional category-specific performances.

It would be too easy to dwell on success in food, but the non-food areas deserve a lot of credit too.

Fashion within Tesco has undergone a fantastic renaissance over the last two or three years.

A far cry from the ‘explosion in a Matalan’ experience that one used to encounter, its F&F departments are typically much-improved areas of stores, with enhanced fixtures, lighting and room to breathe now that the Cherokee license has moved, ironically, to Sainsbury’s new BFFs Argos.

A less-is-more approach from Tesco also helped in toys.

There was some excellent merchandising support from the big toy brands in Tesco this year and the incredibly punchy price-beating war of attrition launched against Argos clearly helped deliver a compelling value message for those one-stop-shoppers looking to pick up some gifts alongside their turkeys.

Party food

On the core grocery side, there was plenty of innovation on display, with party food in particular pushing the culinary envelope in a measured way without resorting to gastronomic lunacy.

Yes, Waitrose – I’m looking at you.

In general, availability was sharper, housekeeping a million miles away from where it used to be and service levels were palpably better than in some competitors.

All in all, a Christmas that Tesco can be proud of.

But 2017, with its inflation and ever-deepening competition, will be no walk in the park and a key challenge remains: what does the hypermarket of the future look like?

Rumour has it a couple of reinvented big box concepts might see the light of day in February or March this year.

There is unlikely to be any public fanfare, so all eyes peeled for the ‘son of Watford’ everyone…