Last year, purely on impulse, Mrs P (Sue) bought one of those trees with the fibre optic lights in the tips of the branches; kitsch, naff, you name it! But when we turned it on, it was magic! Turn the lights down, and you're four years old again, just sitting -- no tv, no radio, no msuci -- and gazing at this incredible fairy-land delight. And all without a prescription!

I cna remember when I really was four (or it might have been three), going to bed and Dad telling me "it's Christmas Eve tonight": a wonderful surprise -- imagine getting that far and not knowing! And I can remember when I was three, having an actual stocking (a long wooly sock) with ... I'd better stop, I'm getting too carried away!

Steve