MANY households will this year have a fairy on top of their Christmas tree. But how did the tradition start?

It was during a particularly bad winter when the snow was deep and crisp and even. Santa’s best elves had gone down with flu and the trainees kept making mistakes. I mean, a three-legged teddy bear’s no good to anyone.

Santa was stressed and then, the day before Christmas, Mrs Claus told him her mother was coming to stay and he began to lose his ho-ho-ho. He and his mother-in-law had never got on.

“Why are you always out the one night of the year you should be home with the family?” she often said.

He went into his office for a pint of cider to calm his nerves but the elves had hidden it in the stable in case he went on a bender. They’d seen it all before.

So he went to check on the reindeer and found Dasher and Prancer drunk. They had found the cider. Not only that, but Rudolf was down with flu. He’d dosed himself with Lemsip and covered his nose with so much Vaseline it was no longer bright. It would be useless at guiding the sleigh to the corner shop, never mind round the world. So Santa had to nip to Halfords to buy a pair of headlamps.

Once they were fitted, he loaded the sacks only for one of the boards on the sleigh to crack. A sack fell off and scattered toys everywhere. He replaced the board, repacked the toys and stumped off back to his office, his face like thunder.

The elves might have taken the cider but he had a bottle of medicinal brandy on the top shelf. Unfortunately, his tummy and the ice on his boots combined to make him slip and drop it. Smash, it went, on the floor.

Flipping heck, he said (or words to that effect). If the mother-in-law sees this mess, I’ll be in for it.

He went for the broom to sweep up the broken bottle but found the mice had eaten the bristles and all he had was a stump. He flung open the door so the fresh air would at least get rid of the smell, and saw a fairy standing there, beaming with benevolence, one hand holding a pine tree and a trail behind her where she had dragged it through the snow.

“Merry Christmas, Santa,” she said. “I’ve brought your tree. Now, where should I stick it?”

And that’s how the fairy came to be on top of the Christmas tree.