Christmas is coming and the shops are now full of Christmas Giftes. In church, although Advent is still two weeks away, we are planning the Christmas rotation of services, making lists of who is responsible for the pre-Christmas greeenery and the Christmas day flowers, and those of us who have not already made our cakes, puddings and mincemeat, look forward to hearing the prompt given by the collect which begins "Stir up . . ."

I was thinking about Christmas presents. Quite a lot of mine have been bought on various trips over the summer when I have noticed things in various sales which I think my friends would like. But then there are the difficult ones - the teenage boys whose hobbies, tastes and interests are so obscure that it is almost impossible to gauge what they will want, and the teen-age girls whose tastes are almost equally hard to follow. Not that my father is easy - it is so hard to find something for the man who has everything and - more especially - could get it mush cheaper somewhere else.

Me? I'm easy to buy things for, aren't I?

I have very simple tastes: I don't wear jewellery. Mostly I don't like scented things. I hardly eat chocolate and dislike most other sweets. I probably drink two or three bottles of wine in a year.

I can think of various things I do want for Christmas - a paella (the pan - not the rice, fish, chicken etc.), a giant pink bath sheet (my favourite has worn out after twenty-five years), some small lidded cassseroles . . . as I have already told those who asked.

I like cooking, but on the whole I don't like those fancy prepared things they sell at Christmas in Gifte Packs. I like cooking basic ingredients from scratch: can you imagine turning up and saying "Happy Christmas, Lissa, I've bought you a nice stalk of sprouts for your present."? Well actually, I'd be quite pleased; I love sprouts and they are much better home-grown on a stalk than in a net from the supermarket.

What I really want is a kitten. I think Albert needs a companion and on the whole I think it is cruel to keep animals isolated from their own species. We are going to have to talk to the Cat Protection League soon - just waiting for the school holidays when I can guarantee the time for gentling it properly.