Part of the pleasure of judging a competition is the thrill of anticipation when the parcel arrives. How many entries will there be? (Never possible to know.) Will they all be clamouring to be the winner, or will they be a lacklustre set? The good news is that nothing that arrived for the Christmas poetry competition could be described as lacklustre. Maybe that’s because everyone has opinions and memories regarding the festival, as well as tales of the perfect and the worst Christmas, parties and disasters, rows and laughter, still-frozen turkeys and overboiled sprouts.

Christmas is also a time when emotions are highly charged. Every joy is multiplied, but every pain is more severe. It’s difficult to be jolly when your heart is breaking, and there were poems of sheer anguish among the entries. It’s a special accomplishment to write a poem and enter it in a