It's funny how the older you get, the more stressful this time of year becomes. As a child, the Christmas season was a time of perpetual happiness and gifts and fun. Now this innocent perspective is tainted by batterings to my bank balance (well, some of those batterings are inflicted for slightly selfish smelly reasons ), the stress of wrapping, cooking, decorating, writing cards etc, the ordeal of dealing with shops, streets and tube trains heaving with crowds, the dilemmas of what to buy for people (I have a lot of 'hard to buy for' people in my family), hoping that the presents my relatives have in store aren't too embarassing, the fear of accidentally embarrassing myself in front of relatives (but gone are the days when I had to sing for my presents. I was forced to sing what I sang at school choir. Without accompaniment, totally solo, almost in an X-Factor style. Thank goodness there aren't any Simon Cowells in the family. But that was the most cringe-making part of Xmas for me) and so on.

But even so, I still love the festive season for many reasons. The sparkly lights everywhere-even the tacky displays can induce smiles, the fact that putting baubles on the tree is quite fun (straightening it, on the other hand, is a bitch of a job), writing cute messages and giving little gifts with cards, the cheesy songs that always get me singing along no matter what, the smell of satsumas and roasted chestnuts all around, chocolates always seem to taste better at this time of year (I know, I probably have weird taste buds, but I think it's true), learning the fascinating pagan background behind many beloved Xmas traditions and customs, fragrancing the house with spicy incense and oils and wearing gorgeous Yule BPALs to really get into the mood, generous alcohol consumption, scoffing loads of home made mince pies-and only home made ones will do, and of course, prezzies. I'm getting an iPod this year. Yay for expensive toys. Thank goodness I don't have to sing for it...