Christmas Day as a child and the joy of opening your presents, but before that, going to bed; the stocking and pillowcase correctly positioned, and a plate of shortbread plus a rum or whisky on the chest of drawers. Father Christmas must have been smashed before he even left our road.
Oh yes, and the admonishment 'don't wake us up at some ungodly hour'. Just what's wrong with saying 'he's been' at four o'clock and jumping on their bed?
So at an ungodly hour next morning the pillowcase would be silently raided for the Eagle Annual and the inevitable signal torch (red, white and green filters) that meant I could read the book under the bedcovers and a Toblerone to keep the blood sugar and hyperactivity levels up.
What excitement, Dan Dare, Storm Nelson Sea Adventurer, Harris Tweed, Luck of the Legion, Jeff Arnold and the Riders of the Range and good old PC 49.
Oh no! It's a copy of The Observer's Book of The Larger British Moths and The Observer's Book of Ferns.
Right it's time for the four o'clock leap.