Here it comes - my first mention of Christmas in this column. It's the time of year that, quite frankly, makes me feel a little bit sad because it makes me feel a little bit old. I try to share my children's wide-eyed wonder, but the jaded vision of an adult creeps in. It's all so commercial these days, I hear myself whinge. But this year, I decided not to fight the inevitable marriage of Santa and mammon. Last weekend, we went to Disneyland Paris.

Christmas in Disneyland is the stuff of pure fantasy. There's plenty of snow, of course, although it's plastic. Pluto is wearing a floppy red hat with a ball of cotton wool on the top. And Mickey has his very own Winter Wonderland Show. But if you're prepared to surrender to the experience, Disneyland Paris succeeds in pulling the most cynical of adult heartstrings - even mine.

I know it's all fake, and I know it's all a big corporation that's excellent at emptying our wallets. But the kids don't. And the fabulous 25m Christmas tree lighting ceremony, with Santa arriving in a gigantic illuminated sleigh of reindeer, seems like real old-fashioned spectacle. The lights in London's Regent Street may not be what they used to be, but the illuminations in Disneyland Paris's Main Street still manage to be magical.

There are pitfalls to this wonderland. But Helen Truszkowski's Take the Kids Paris (Cadogan £12.99) has a large and excellent section which advises you how to avoid them, from where to stand for the most uninterrupted view of the parade to which are the best rides in the (inevitable) rain. And Eurostar has expanded its direct Disneyland service into the winter, so you don't have to go via Gare du Nord.

Of course, in Disneyland Christmas is an elastic concept, extending to January 5. So I could even return in the New Year, to once again melt my middle-aged heart.

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