Crism

I liked Christmas when I was small, of course, and I still liked it in my teens. I liked the ritual of going to church, going to my "Aunty" Helen's for a sherry, and then lunch followed by an afternoon lounging around reading, or listening to a new album, and eating chocolates.

And I enjoyed Christmas when I got married as my first wife was part Austrian, so we did Christmas on Christmas Eve, which is great; the whole day builds up to the meal and present opening in the evening. But it was always the enjoyment of one day.

When I was living on my own after my first marriage, I decided to make a bit more of Christmas, for the girls' benefit. So I put up the decorations early, bought some albums of Christmas music and started making mulled whine (albeit for me, not the children). And over the years, I've come to enjoy the whole period more and more.

Still, you've got to have rules and, for me, the Christmas period is December the 1st until January 5th: no mulled wine or mince pies or decorations or anything like that before or after those dates! And when Charlie (my eldest) was very small, she called Christmas - or, more specifically, Father Christmas - "crism", so that's the work I use to refer to this period.

So I take a dim view of Christmas decorations going up in late October, shops playing Christmas tunes in November and so on. I was delighted today, though, even though it's a Sunday, to see that the Kirkby Lonsdale tree went up on the 1st of December,