Our Christmas tree was thin and rather ragged this year, but without the grown-up children to interfere, I was able to decorate it with gold tinsel, gold bells, silver and gold baubles and the interesting home-made decorations by besties, Martin and Kobi. These include a polished oyster shell and homemade tiny woolly hat…so, in the end, in Mid December, I liked my Christmas tree very much which was a good start. Odd to think now that the tree is already shorn, needleless and out by the bins. When Christmas is over, it’s really over.

Unfortunately, that excellent beginning was upset by Roisin having to go into hospital to have her appendix out so she was in some pain during the festivities but Aine was in great form, sticking her tongue out, edging her way around the coffee table, lunging for any mobile phone left lying around, throwing fruit around, pulling all the books out of the bookshelves, all the time smiling that gappy, toothless smile of hers.

I love to have family around, whatever the time of year and in whatever frame of mind or body. I love having the craic, cooking together and, of course, at Christmas, giving gifts.

For the last few years, Christmas’ have been harder to celebrate…set against the scenery of wars or civil wars, plagues, streams of refugees, political upheaval. However, each year, we manage to set our backs resolutely against the backdrop which does seem rather uncharitable, and unchristian, but what else can you do?

Talking of unchristian, this Christmas I was listening to Alistair Campbell and Rory Stewart on their Leading podcast interviewing Tom Holland about his book Dominion.  He was saying that people in the West, whether religious or not, are basically Christian because Christian values dominate in the West. This is an argument I have tentatively put forward (though I think, in fairness, not 700 pages worth) in my discussions with my Catholic friends about my non religious background. Just because I am not religious, doesn’t mean I don’t have ‘Christian’ values but I am pretty sure these values are probably the central tenets of Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism as well.

Oddly enough, it turns out that the book ‘Skippy Dies’ by Irish author, Paul Murray, that I am reading at the moment is also about 700 pages. You can never tell when you are reading on the kindle. I was enjoying it at the start. Set in a boy’s boarding school in Dublin, it describes the daily life of both pupils and teachers (priests and secular) in an insightful and humorous way. Paul Murray is a good writer, brilliant at description, with delightful similes or metaphors. In this book, he captures the boarding school ethos well, and at first his characters are innocent and harmless. He made me smile with their boyish and male escapades but as the year passes their vulnerabilities are abused by everyday life, and their experiences become violent and the book becomes almost unpleasant. It’s a clever reflection of our society at the moment. I find it impressive…to be able to write a story which recognisably encapsulates the collapse of society in 700 pages!  At the moment, I can only read a bit at a time for it is too much. Then, I have to put it down to do something else. I am interested in how it will end. Will he be able to do something with it? Can Paul Murray create hope for us all? (yes, he does).

It’s been a joy having my son, Joe around for the whole of the festive period. He walks Pops with me most days, and tramping along in the wind and rain, we discuss the different aspects of the world’s disintegration: the frightening rise in right wing leaders /dictators in Hungary, Holland, Argentina, India, China, Venezuela, or the crazy wars in Ukraine, Sudan, Mali, Gaza. We have decided to boycott American products as Biden continues to make emergency payments to Israel, bypassing congress. It won’t make much of a difference, I said. Maybe not, he answered, but it means we are doing something. So, I am investigating what American products I invest in. It is mainly the communications sector. I will try not to buy any new Apple products or books from Amazon (I have signed up with Kobo e-books for my kindle purchases). Netflix is part of my Sky platform…which, although is a division of American outfit, Comcast, is British. Fortunately, I don’t subscribe to any other platform (Prime, Disney etc). So, that will be one of my new year resolutions. The other is to write every day, so for good or bad, you may be hearing more from me!

Happy New Year, everybody, do with it what you can.