Its that time of year again that many of us will go to the loft or garage and pull out the Christmas Decorations to adorn our houses for the festive season. The sense of expectation is high in the house, children and indeed adults are smiling in the knowledege that despite their behaviour over the last 12 months Santa Claus is going to come again this year.Dressing the house is one of those traditional jobs that involves everyone and it is enjoyed for the most part.

With such a wonderful scene set, why is it that the fairy lights never work when taken out of storage?. I spent 3.5 hours yesterday pulling and tweaking every bulb in the 350 set of fairy lights to find the bulb(s) that for some unknown reason decided not to work this year eventhough when they were taken down last year they all worked. What mysterious bug invades the unplugged fairy lights while they spend the year in storage?. If they can manufacture bulbs that will self distruct while dormant, why can't they manufacture bulbs that will work for more than one year?

The answer I suspect is to do with us as we expect to spend hours looking for, finding and replacing bulbs, its tradition. It maybe tradition but its also a pain in the arse and very frustrating.

Now that I am on a roll, why do some shops and some television channels insist on spelling Christmas, Xmas. It has to be the only religious holiday that gets abbreviated, would it be too much to add 5 letters when refering to it?

I must go now there are three ghosts waiting for me downstairs and we are going to have a pint before lunch.

There seems to be a new solution to this. Leave the decorations up all year round. I've noticed this in particular with outside fairy lights hanging on houses, just under the roof or at the bottom of windows.

As the run up to Christmas also seems to be starting earlier each year (it won't be long before it starts just after Xter or Xali) you may as well leave them up.