We put up our Christmas decorations last weekend. For once I won the battle between good taste and tacky gilt.

That's mostly because our new, much larger sofa means there is now even less room for a half-way decent Christmas tree and for people to be able to fit in our living room as well.

So I have decorated the very large houseplant in the corner with twinkling silver lights and put a few other luminescent touches on the mantelpiece and pretty candles everywhere.

It all looks very nice, like something out of House and Garden, but there is still time for daughter and husband to sneak in the tinsel and tack they love.

Daughter appropriated the bag of old decorations, plus the artificial tree with no legs, and has decorated her bedroom in what she feels is a more fitting and Christmassy style.

She did try to persuade me to buy her a fibre-optic tree from the garden centre but I drew the line and told her to use what we had instead.

There is multi-coloured tinsel absolutely everywhere, wound around her bunk bed, the banisters and every picture frame.

The tree is leaning sideways covered with every decoration we have ever possessed and with all the fake holly, the general effect is very cosy and Christmassy, like Hannington's grotto used to be.

I came down from admiring it, glancing at my cool and stylish decorations, and wondered whether I had made a bit of a Christmas fashion error.

Perhaps I'll let her put a bit of tinsel up and maybe we'll hang a few things on the Christmas houseplant over the next week.

I have got seven days off over Christmas, a luxury in itself and something I still appreciate after all my years of being 'on duty'.

Of course, expectation and reality rarely match.

I have visions of daughter and I cooking mince pies together on Christmas Eve and singing carols along to the radio.

Then I imagine all of us going together for a country walk on Christmas Day with the dog before settling down to a huge jolly meal.

The reality is she will probably forsake us for something more interesting on Christmas Eve like a party or watching the MTV Christmas Special.

No one will go for a walk because everyone will be busy watching TV and eating chocolates.

Someone will have to walk the dog and if it's raining that person will not be me because Christmas Day is also my birthday.

I will, of course, be 21 again and the chief advantage of having a birthday on December 25 is I shall not have to do the washing up.