We watched a festive rom-com the other night. It wasn’t great. Before we started watching I went into the kitchen to carry out various, perhaps not entirely, essential tasks. The others waited patiently on the sofa. Daniel came to find me.
Him: Watching “The Holiday” is like going to mass.
Me (surprised, I mean wouldn’t you be?): Really, how is that?
Him: You’re the only one who wants to go but somehow you’re slowing us all down.
It’s another of my gifts.
It has been busy here in Waffle towers. Lots of seasonal things: present buying; tree purchasing; card sending; Christmas partying.
We went to see “A Christmas Carol” in the Gate on Tuesday night. It was a pricey enough family outing. It might have been more successful had the children been a bit younger or, in the case of herself, more cheerful. She was tired, it was a school night, she had lots to do and we were forcing her to be there. All true but not information delivered in a manner calculated to please her mother who had envisaged a fun Christmas outing. “I’m not sitting beside Michael,” she said, “as we filed into our seats, “he makes noises when he consumes culture.” This set the tone somewhat. The second part was better than the first and, at the end, Michael hopped up and gave an enthusiastic standing ovation. He was standing alone for quite a while but, in the end, he brought the theatre with him and everyone stood up.
On the way out, I got chatting to an elderly gentleman (typical enough of the patrons of the Gate) who was making slow progress out due to a bad knee. “You would never think,” said he conversationally, “that I was once the Irish under 17 sprint champion but I was. I met Jesse Owens, I knew Jesse Owens. Did you know that the person who first got him interested in running was an Irish-American in his school called Charlie Reilly?” I did not but I’m willing to bet he was in a religious order. The children upbraided me for talking to random strangers and we went home.
I got my annual haircut. My hairdresser firmly resisted my requests to chop it all off but it is, at least, a good deal shorter.
We have carols in the church on Friday night – Daniel is doing a reading; we’re having some people around for drinks on Sunday afternoon and then my last day of work before the holidays is Monday; I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that it is unlikely to be anyone’s most productive day at work.
How are your own preparations progressing?
A weekend filled with adventure and excitement etc. On Friday night, Mr. Waffle, the Princess and I went to see a local theatre troop do a Christmas special which was good in parts. Inevitably, herself knew one of the cast who had videoed her doing various worthy things in youth organisations over the years.
On Saturday, Daniel had a match miles away and Michael had his drama showcase. Michael’s drama went well, although Daniel was not delighted to hear another child address Michael with the words, “As your twin…” in the play. Daniel lost his match but felt he had played reasonably well so was cheerful enough notwithstanding his defeat. Sadly Michael has decided that he has had enough drama and doesn’t want to sign up for next term. Alas.
Then last night, my sister came up from Cork and joined us for dinner. Last weekend the Princess was in Cork and her phone died. While her cruel parents felt she would manage, her kindly Cork relatives decided to club together and get her a new iPhone X as a Christmas present which was delivered early (last night) on the basis that she couldn’t be expected to survive phoneless for much longer. And even though my brother who is a shameless haggler in all circumstances managed to get the shop to knock €75 off the price, it was still quite the expensive present. Herself was ecstatic as well she might be.
Today Daniel read at mass and he was absolutely wonderful. After mass, Michael lent across to me and said, “Wasn’t Daniel supposed to be reading today?” He had completely failed to notice his brother reading which does make me wonder whether any of the service at all seeps in.
This afternoon, herself was off on a Christmas baking extravaganza with her friends, the boys had their friends over to play “Call of Cthulhu” [“Dungeons and Dragons adjacent” is how herself describes it, probably all you need to know] and I went off to my bookclub Christmas meeting which was quite delightful.
And now my sister is going to call in again having visited IKEA (which she loves and is not available in Cork) and will doubtless come bearing further gifts. Very satisfactory. And how was your own weekend?
Late last week one of the children said, “I hope you haven’t forgotten Saint Nicolas on December 6.” An impressive degree of attachment given that we left Belgium for good 11 years ago.
We had the boys’ parent-teacher meetings last week. The only teachers they have an overlap for are maths and science. We had to see 18 teachers and we slowly lost the will to live as did the boys who had to accompany us under the new principal’s regime. They seem to be doing fine but by the time we finished none of us had the energy to do any further analysis on the detail.
Michael (sarcastically): Oh yes, no one in this family is known for ped-ant-ry.
Herself and myself in unison (immediately and unthinkingly): Pedant-ry