El tiempo afuera es espantoso...

I had been looking forward very much to Christmas. My family is scattered all over the world, and no one has a house big enough to accommodate even a few extra, so it’s decades since we’ve all been together. I have seven siblings – and not alone do they live far away, but they have children and spouses in those far-off place too, so it’s not that surprising. That’s why I was so grateful that my parents were coming to join us in Galway this year. My father can always be relied upon to do something outrageous, and usually outrageously funny, and my mum is great for bigging up the whole festive vibe. But in early December my mum slipped on the kitchen floor and broke one of her vertebrae, so that put paid to the family get-together. We couldn’t go to them, either, as there is even less room for us all than usual, with the new sleeping configuration while my mother recuperates. So Christmas would be the five of us.

In the end, we had a fabulous day. The sun shone, we went for a lovely walk to Tyrone House up the road and tried to hit a target with the bow and arrow set that we gave our younger daughter. Husband threatened severe recriminations on anyone who hit the polytunnel, then fired an arrow through it himself, where it came to a halt under a leafless peach tree.

“Are you going to punish yourself?” asked our thirteen-year-old son.

But the day went great. There were no rows, the meal was delicious (I highly recommend Jamie Oliver’s spice mix for roast goose) and my mum is doing well.  I’ve spoken to her every day and she’s on the mend, if very cabin-feverish.

I wanted to make a drawing of my living room because I’d made a drawing of our tree last year in monochrome, or nearly so. I had used sand-coloured tinted paper and painted in white gouache, chickening out of all those coloured babubles. Pathetic! This year I felt up to the task of recording them in colour. I thought the tree was very pretty, and I thought the cushions looked gorgeous. Sadly, having drawn them, I’m a bit sick of them now, so I’ll have to change them around a bit. I also felt that I would metaphorically like to have all my sketching friends in for a nice cup of tea, and failing that I could welcome you all with a sketch of my home…even though none of my visitors ever make it further than the kitchen table.

I started the drawing (can’t really call it a sketch) the day before Christmas Eve, then the festive fun kicked in: cooking and wrapping, then visiting my parents in Co. Wicklow, where my husband and my father “relaxed” rather a lot over champagne and Bordeaux. This time my husband was the outrageous one, causing my mother (from her sickbed) to cast her warm motherly eyes over me, torn between sympathy and laughter.

So I didn’t get to finish it until yesterday, nearly a week later. The presents were all opened and the wrapping paper crumpled up and put away by then, so they will remain uncoloured. But I was lucky in one respect – the frost outside lasted just one day and I thought it looked beautiful through the window. My mum gave me some amazing sable brushes – a whole set – for Christmas. As I painted I sat next to the Russian stove with a fire crackling away quietly within, and with the kids lazing about in their rooms somewhere, all was silent, and I was very happy.

I told the husband I might frame this and put it up in the dining “room” (the entire downstairs is all one) next year as a kind of unusual Christmas decoration. “In case we forget what the living room looks like?” he said. But my two younger kids put the decorations on the tree together – the eldest is too cool for that now. Time marches on, kids grow up and this will always remind me of the two younger ones wittering away to each other and happily anticipating the big day.

Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve. My sister has just flown all the way from Jamaica to look after our mother for a bit, but she’s back to her old feisty self and she’ll be on her feet, please God, in a couple of months’ time. We’re making plans to do cool stuff when she’s better.

I wish you all a peaceful, prosperous and very happy New Year.