A festive treat, with no shops involved

THE time has quite obviously come to hold my hands up and admit that Christmas is just around the corner.

I don’t mind accepting it now, as this seems like a reasonable amount of time to organise yourself, what with trees and turkeys and tinsel, and I appreciate that this is now a legitimate period within which to make those purchases and not feel that the world is falling in on you.

So off you go my children, into the wilderness that is the Christmas shopping experience.

However, I would like to warn you that it is a jungle out there. Oh the lights may be sparkly, but they are luring you in with every step.

The Christmas band oompahing around the centre is a ploy to drag you through the doors, with “Come on you guys it’s Christmas, the period of good cheer to all men, this widescreen TV is just what you need,” and “This Wii for squillions of pounds is a really reasonable buy don’t you think?” Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Alternatively, let me give you a bit of very good advice. For a right old proper festive knees-up get yourself down to “Mother Goose” at the Coliseum, the annual pantomime.

We decided we would risk it and take our two year old.

You may or may not know that keeping a toddler of that age entertained for two hours is no mean feat and we were fully committed to leaving half way through, to the wails of “home, mummy, home.”

It never happened.

The music was fast and furious, the dancers fit and funky, the costumes were astonishing.

All the cast were superb, the script was brilliantly funny, a bit of blue for the adults and some great visual gags for the kids.

Best of all were the ad-libs and asides, what the Oldham panto is famous for. A brilliantly traditional Christmas show with no commercial nonsense.

The boy loved the dragon (the Demon) and the duck (the Goose) and Humpty Dumpty (Mother Goose of the title), and we loved the lot.

Yes the twinkly lights will lure you in, yes the band will tempt you through the door, but this Noel treat is worth every penny.

Go on enjoy yourself, it is Christmas after all.