You’d be a mug to throw out that old Christmas crockery - Susan Morrison

My grandmother had just such a set in her china cabinet in the front room. Both were only ever used when the minister visited.

She always served him Garibaldi biscuits, because he hated them, and she never forgave his sermon in 1952 that seemed to suggest the ferries could actually run on the Sabbath.

Last year, when our kitchen was redone, we had a skip and we chucked out all the gubbins of the day. Seriously ancient spices, gadgets still in boxes and mysterious labelless tins. Out it all went.

Last week, the concept of a pretty tea tray and the kitchen re-do clashed.

Very dear old friends from university were coming to tea. Immediately I went into full-on “Ideal Home” mode and went to get out the ‘good china’. Actually, it was just a four-set of Ikea plain white mugs, but they matched and they looked nice on the tray, which I did find.

But not the mugs. Slowly I realised that at some point, the official ‘guest’ mugs had been hurled into the abyss.

All that was left were the mismatched everyday stuff, two massive buckets that I like soup in and a little porcelain RNLI mug, sporting the motto "With courage, nothing is impossible”. Grand words, but worrying when the Victoria sponge is being passed across.

My guests were less than an hour away. Too late for a dash even to Tesco. Quick, I said to the Yorkshire husband, close the curtains. We’ll pretend we’re not in.

But what’s this, lurking on a top shelf? Four matching mugs, by jingo. From Christmas. Yes, they are a bit flamboyant and festive, and, ok, I’ll grant you, Santa does look a bit out of place in May, but snowmen fit right in with the weather we’ve been having. Heck, we’re just one hail storm away from a ski slope.

Ok, so I might not win, “Tea Tray of the Year”, but at least the china matched and I didn’t serve Garibaldi biscuits.