Christmas Quicktakes

1. The younger kids got out of school today at 12 o'clock, and have been high on selection boxes and  excitement ever since. Actually though, they came home yesterday afternoon and assured me that their respective teachers had thoughtfully told them that they needn't bother coming in today- they should just have a nice long lie in instead. Aye right, like either of those two scenarios is ever going to happen.  So I was all 'Hmmmm, okay then, stay off if you like...but I've a list of jobs you'll be helping me with....and you'd just be playing and watching DVDs in school. Totally up to you though!' Needless to say, they decided to go into school.  Yours Truly, 1. Teachers, nil, I think.

Our Anna (14) and Rosa (1 week)

2. Welcome to the world, little miss Rosa Elizabeth Anne, my newest niece, and isn't she beautiful? Here's the oldest and youngest grandchildren together.... and there's sixteen more in between! They'll all be here on  Christmas morning, along with with my five siblings, their five spouses and our parents. Something tells me it's gonna be loud, crazy and a whole lot of fun!













3. I got my nails done this week for Christmas and I've been sneaking admiring glances at them ever since. You likey? They even stood up to making pastry, and  I'm pleased to report that they survived the ordeal unscathed... which is just as well really, cos let's face it,  no one wants a diamante bow in their mince pie.


4. Its been a week of lists, which I work my way through, then score out (or actually delete off my phone).  The problem is that as quick as I 'make mincepies', 'write cards', 'wrap presents', it's deleted and instantly replaced with something else. Today it's 'do Tesco shop','research city break', (sadly not for me) 'write blogpost', 'make pasta dish', 'shave legs'.  And I'm writing this first, obvs, so the legs may or may not make the cut, so to speak, if you will.

5. Finally, in the midst of all the madness here's a little musical treat for you.  It's my very favourite Christmas carol, and almost five years ago my sister Mary (baby Rosa's mammy) sang it had her own wedding. Imagine that! It was so very special, absolutely beautiful (as was she), and I'll always remember it as one of 'those moments'. Unfortunately, I don't have footage of her singing, but here's the next best thing- the Celtic so enjoy!
Finally, finally, a very Happy Christmas to you all, my lovelies, wherever you are and whoever you're with, I really hope it's a great one. Much love, Emma xx

Arthur

Today we'll wrap him in his blanket and bury him in the garden-the hole has already been dug. Such a sad, abrupt, shocking end for the little black dog who was part of our family for such a short while. Seven months and one day old, he was still a baby, never even had a haircut, never graduated from puppy food.

We'd thought long and hard about getting a dog, or rather, I'd eventually been talked round. I'm not a dog person, not an animal person at all, if I'm honest-it always makes me slightly ashamed to admit that, as though I'm somehow lacking, or born missing a vital piece. Maybe its because we never had a dog at home growing up, or maybe its just me. So I bought the books before we got him, just like I did years ago when I was newly pregnant, not trusting my own instincts, not confident enough to 'go with the flow'.

Certainly not like Himself, who fell hard for the little black wriggly thing, carrying him around like a baby and  putting him up to my face for kisses, while I flapped him away. Definitely not like the children, who let him lick their faces and raced him round the garden, while I worried about training schedules and flea treatments. I should have just relaxed. I thought my 'job' was to monitor his cleanliness and his food intake and his pit stops.  To keep him off the couch and keep the doors closed and take the shoes off him.I thought I'd have plenty of time for all the rest, sure we'd have him for years and years, but if I could just get the good habits in as a puppy, we'd all reap the benefits later. I was wrong. 

Like the toddler he was, he didn't see the danger of the lumbering tractor with the trailer behind. It wasn't even on a road, just on the little lane that goes past our house. We don't usually worry about traffic because there's just so little of it. And anyway, I was far more concerned about his infuriating love for rolling in slurry, or barking at the neighbours' chickens. 

I was still in my nightdress as I ran outside, tasting dread in my throat. The driver's so young, was my thought as he walked towards me, shaking his head. Where those tears in his eyes? 
I heard the boys' sobs before I saw him. He'd died instantly. There would be no frantic hope filled rush to the vet's, but no slow painful death either. That was the only blessing. 

Then the shock, and with it the tears. I wish I could take away all the children's pain, this first proper brush with loss and the cruel, inevitable dawning of  the slender line between life and death. Himself is stoic, pragmatic even, and unbearably sad. 

And me? I didn't appreciate before how traumatic this loss would be. I didn't understand before how much part of our family he was. I didn't realise before how much I loved him too. 
Rest and Frolic in Peace,  Arthur

. xxx

Mammy

'Grown don't mean nothing to a mother. A child is a child. They get bigger, older, but grown? What's that supposed to mean? In my heart it don't mean a thing.'  Toni Morrison

It's her milestone birthday today and even though I'm not allowed to say which one, I WILL say she's a long way from being an octogenarian just yet- Heaven forbid! (Although with luck, some day, God willing, fingers crossed, stars aligned, all being well, she will.) She and Daddy have been married for nearly 44 years-there's six of us-three boys and three girls-and over the years she's gradually acquired three sons-in-law, three daughters-in-law, sixteen grandchildren...and counting!

We celebrated her birthday properly on Saturday night- my sister came from London, my brother  made a surprise trip from California, and I know this made her happier than all the champagne, cake and presents put together. As she looked around the room, at all her children and their spouses, she told me how blessed she was to have such great children, and such wonderful sons and daughters in law. I told her then, that it didn't happen by chance. I told her that I'm learning from her how to do it right. That she's STILL showing me how its done, and one day, maybe I can be more like her.

Herself and the first four...

You see, she lives for her family, more so now than ever. She opens her door and her heart to all of us, often all at once!  Shes one of the least selfish people I know- there's never too many mouths to feed, no baby too cranky, no tantrum too
loud, no argument too noisy. Her opinion is valued and her company sought. Along with Daddy, and sometimes solo, she guest stars on all of our summer holidays...if she can squeeze us in. She's softened as she's got older- lifes's little nuisances don't bother her anymore- she's got her priorities right.

 No pushover, mind, she shoots from the hip but never ever, holds a grudge. She's fiercely loyal and refuses to conform for the sake of it. In her mind she's still thirty-five- nothing stops her and her diary is full. One of my favourite memories of last summer, was seeing her scramble up the climbing frame in the park with my children..and she reached the top before they did! So amazing is her energy that we all like to forget that she's not that young anymore.

Today is just another day but its also a milestone on her journey, and maybe that makes it a good time to say  thank you .... for everything. All she's done, all she's given, all she's taught us- WE are the lucky ones, WE are blessed. So a very Happy Birthday to you, Anne Therese, our most favourite of matriarchs, a very special lady, the queen of Nanas, but most of all, our lovely Mammy. Xxxxx

Herself!

Merry Christmas to All

'Christmas! The very word brings joy to our hearts. No matter how we may dread the rush, the long Christmas lists for gifts and cards to be bought and given--when Christmas Day comes there is still the same warm feeling we had as children, the same warmth that enfolds our hearts and our homes.'

Joan Winmill Brown

A very very Happy Christmas from my house to yours today and thanks a million for stopping by this year. (And now......I'm off to peel the spuds!)
Much love, Emx

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

So the answer's yes to the question I know you're all dying to know- we DID get our supersized, Griswold-esque Christmas tree up yesterday. Oh, I knew it was coming, despite not so quietly hoping for 12 feet or less, but when it did arrive, it was even more ridiculously enormous than I'd bargained for.

Loverboy had taken all five of the kidlets to choose it, so when they all arrived back and carried into the kitchen a perfectly manageable five foot tree, I was VERY pleasantly surprised. (Yay! Who says nagging doesnt work?) But, there behind them, I clocked the wicked gleam in Loverboy's eyes and realized instantly that I'd been duped.

Little full, lotta sap....

The kids meanwhile were rolling in the aisles.
'Did you REALLY think that we'd choose that wee tiny tree mummy? Really? Did you? Comeandseecomeandseecomeandsee!'
So outside I went, in order to fully appreciate the inevitable 'THAT'S not a tree, THIS is a tree moment!', but even I wasn't prepared for the full eighteen and a half feet of it hanging off the back of the trailer. Thankfully, it DID have to be pruned back on account of logistics-no one except Luke could get up the stairs-but unfortunately, not before it had first scraped the ceiling AND the wooden floor. Oh yes indeedy, it was all fun and games round here yesterday!

So it's up at last, and thankfully, allbeit reluctantly, (it was in and out that front door at least three times), it's now cut back to the much more reasonable 12 feet and it IS gorgeous. All my special tree ornaments are on there,  the ones friends and family have brought me back from their travels, the ones we've picked up on ours and most special of all, the ones the children have made over the years in nursery and primary school. Among others, there's the clothes peg reindeer , the sparkly glitter star, the clay Christmas tree, all up there along with the priceless memories they hold.

You can't see the star...but it's there!

 And lets face it, sixteen years of marriage, (I know- AGES!), and five children later, (I know-LOADS!) that's a whole heap of memories.....so now I think about it, maybe it's just as well the tree's a big one. And, realistically, I suspect we'll  never again have a hallway that can take a bad boy like this one, so I'll enjoy this seasonal last hurrah....before all the needles start falling off anyway.....oh wait, scratch that,  they already have!



PS We watched this movie last night, and I just had to share this scene...which was uncannily similar to a real life scene here yesterday. Enjoy!



 PPS  I've joined up with Sarah Miles at Hello Wall today-go on over and take a peek at the rest!

Mad Blog Awards

It seemed so long ago back in May-months away, with a whole summer in between. There was the caravilla, then one sister's wedding, then another sister's new baby, and now all of a sudden it's this weekend. Tomorrow night, little old me will be a finalist at the MAD Blog Awards in London!

We're making a long weekend of it, Loverboy and I- the Awards, a West End show, dinner and drinks with friends and then plenty of time for the two of us to just wander through old London town.With possibly a bit of shoe shopping thrown in. Maybe.

Right now though, I'm stressing in a big way about the kids- clothes to pack, toys to bring, raincoats, school uniforms, dinner money, books, special blankets..... They're off to stay in their Granny and Granda's, so I know they'll be fine.... but I still worry. A worrier by nature AND a mummy too..that's so not a good combo- one feeds off the other, you see!  It peaks the closer I get to going anywhere, and the night before I'm usually very close to calling it off altogether, and asking myself what was I thinking , and then Loverboy says, 'You always do this, every time, and you ring home and they're fine, and then you're fine. So stop stressing, it's gonna be fun!'

Strangely enough, the only thing I'm not actually worried about are the Awards themselves. Truly I'm not! I've got my dress and my shoes sorted- the same ones I wore to THE wedding a few weeks ago, and with zero expectation of winning, I feel like I can just relax and enjoy the evening. There's no faux modesty here - I really AM the long shot and just very glad to be going at all. I'm looking forward to meeting all of  the faces behind the blogs... and then obviously there's the free food and drink so really, what's not to like?
There's actually a live feed from the Awards on Friday night, so if you've nowhere to go, and a thunderstorm takes out your Sky+, and you're clean outta box sets, you can take a peak at what's going on. (I don't have a URL right now but it'll be up on the MAD BLOGS website by then). 

So all there's left to say is Thank You. Thank you for taking the time to vote for me all those months ago- many of you did it more than once- and without all those votes, I certainly wouldn't be living it large in London this weekend! But far more importantly, thank you for reading and following this little blog over the last year. When I started it, I never thought that anyone, except possibly my family, would  be interested in anything I had to say. Sometimes being proved wrong tastes very sweet indeed. Emmaxxx