Terry Prone: My mother was never lighthearted about Christmas. It was an enemy

ON the face of it, I’m all set for Christmas. But not really.

Everything looks good on the surface, but, once you look closely, reveals itself to be just slightly off. The Christmas tree, for example, although a fine specimen of its kind, is nonetheless severely canted.

It leans heavily to one side, although I kid myself that you woudn’t know, because I spun it around, so it’s slightly leaning against the wall, which has the advantage that it can’t fall sideways or straight into the room.