n IT comes but once a year and when it comes it brings ... a helluva headache in the deciding-what-to-watch-on-the-telly department. At least, it did once upon a time.

As a kid, you snapped up your bumper two-week issue of the Radio Times, grabbed a felt-tip, and ring-fenced the must-sees.

But things change. For the first time I can remember, there are no difficult decisions to be made in our house over what to tune into at Christmas. There is only a handful which are required viewing for all the family ... and, whaddyaknow, they don't clash.

Only Fools and Horses, One Foot In The Grave, 2 Point 4 Children on the BBC. The Treasure Seekers on ITV. Father Ted on C4. A brilliant Arena documentary on Sid Caesar on BBC2. After that, you're struggling to identify anything which you'd kill to watch.

The movies? Problem nowadays is that you've seen them before, at the cinema, on video, on satellite. The Christmas blockbuster has lost its value. Jurassic Park? Read it, seen it, bought the t-shirt.

Ah, it's not like the old days. Do you remember those vintage television Christmases past? The ones where you sat glued to the box from dawn till dusk? You don't? Funny, neither do I. The truth is that today's TV festive fayre is little different from what it used to be. We just assume that it must have been better (on the basis, perhaps, that it couldn't be much worse).

I have some specific memories, mind you. The first sign of Xmas was always the start of the Blue Peter appeal when Val and Chris asked you to save up all your silver milk bottle topswhich somehow they could transform into water purifying units for Third World orphans.

Another abiding memory is of John Ford's classic Western She Wore A Yellow Ribbon. This was shown on the BBC every Christmas Eve. I recall I never once saw the whole movie because, half-way through, my dad always whisked us away to the Midnight Service. Christmas Day television always started with a visit to a children's ward. Why? To make you feel guilty, of course. There you were, in the best of health opening all your terrific presents, and there they were, trying to raise a smile from their hospital beds.

In our house, the annual fight always began immediatly after the Queen's Speech. Two things happened at once: my mum summoned us all to dinner; and Top of The Pops started. Both are, sadly, incompatable. Wouldn't it be great, you mused, if they would invent a machine which could tape programmes.

Finally, a mention for a TV memory we all cherish. Nothing did, does or will compare to Morecambe And Wise. Brilliantly written, timed to perfection, and maybe the funniest comic of the century. Which is why, buried deep in this Christmas's schedules, you'll find an ever-welcome repeat of a classic from Eric 'n' Ern.