THIS morning my ten-yearold son put his Advent calendar chocolate into the little pot he has been using to save the ones he hasn’t been ready to eat so early in the morning.

My five-year-old daughter looked at him with horror and asked incredulously, “how can you do that?”.

She was salivating as her eagle eyes stared hungrily at his little chocolate stash.

The prospect of opening the Advent calendar is the very thing that gets her out of bed in the morning.

In fact, the moment she has opened the door, identified the treat of the day and scoffed the chocolate, she is already contemplating what delights will be in store for her tomorrow.

We discuss tomorrow’s Advent window chocolate at least three times throughout the preceding evening.

“I am so excited about tomorrow’s door, Mummy. I wonder what the chocolate will be,” she speculates.

Today, she sheepishly declared that she might have accidentally opened the allhallowed December 24 door.

As she looked up at me with doleful eyes, I told her she takes after her dad and her brother takes after me.

The ex is a chocaholic. He couldn’t leave a chocolate unscoffed if he tried.

For me, Christmas is all about the cheese. I like a cheeseboard that exists for days and changes as it ripens over time.

I can take or leave the chocolate, but cheese, chutney and crackers, all washed down with port, are the highlight of the Christmas feast.

If there is to be chocolate, then I like to have a tin of Celebrations. They are our choccy treats – except for the Bounty, which nobody likes.

Not long now until the festivities commence. My kids’ school breaks up tomorrow and the countdown begins in earnest.

It doesn’t really matter if you prefer cheese or chocolate at Christmas. Just smile, relax and enjoy it.

Cheers!

l Writer and journalist Clare Macnaughton’s latest book is available on Amazon.

A Modern Military Mother – Tales from the Domestic Frontline is an honest account of decade of being married to an RAF officer serving in the British military.