As avid U.S. viewers of Downton Abbey are acutely aware, lucky UK telly watchers have already been treated to an early Christmas with the recent completion of the second series of the hit ITV series. But wait. There’s one more present to unwrap. Even though the Downton Abbey Christmas Special broadcast schedule has not yet been set, early pictures are starting to surface. Thanks to Ian Wylie (@ianwylie), a stellar UK journalist who has spent many an evening at Highclere Castle the past couple of years, for sharing the photo depicting residents of Downton Abbey in a really cool looking sepia-tone photo. The new special will take viewers into the new year of 1920.

While UK viewers will be able to open the gift the world is waiting for either on Christmas Day or Boxing Day, U.S. viewers will have to wait until early March 2012 which will be the end of the PBS Masterpiece broadcast of season two which premieres Sunday, January 8, 2012. While Christmas can’t come soon enough for telly watchers in the UK, fear not, U.S. fans of Downton Abbey, January 8 is just around the corner.