Christmas comes but once a year - so make it last. Many children's theatre performances are continuing for an extra month after the tinsel has been taken down. The department stores may have already dismantled their Santa's grottos to make way for the sales, but the shows still go on.

I'm not talking about traditional end of the pier pantomimes; although we all really enjoy them, they tend to end with the school holidays. I mean classic children's play. I have lost count of how many times I've taken Storme, now 10, to see Roald Dahl's The BFG, this year at London's Playhouse Theatre. Or, when she was younger, that other perennial Christmas kids' theatrical event, Raymond Briggs' The Snowman. And I always take her a couple of weeks after the annual orgy of present opening, when our spirits need a bit of a lift.

Just 21 months old, the twins have yet to make their theatrical debut. (I will take them to The Snowman next year - you can guarantee it'll be on.) But Storme is a real luvvie lover, missing no opportunity to sit in the stalls. I really enjoy going to the theatre with her, as her childish enthusiasm is wonderfully infectious, and I find myself giggling and being scared at things that, in adult company, would leave me unmoved.

When we sat together at the Young Vic's Sleeping Beauty, which takes the tale beyond the waking kiss, I laughed out loud at the flatulent fairies. Nutcracker!, a new version of the classic ballet with bite, made me wide-eyed at the shimmering spectacle. When it leaves London in February, it's going on a nationwide tour. So wherever you live, you can stretch the magic of Christmas into 2003. If you want to, that is.

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