The Gallery: A celebration

Little late, but never mind.

I love this picture. This is a picture of everyone except Uncle Bobby, the photographer, at our big family Christmas many, many moons ago (no, I can’t actually remember what year, but I think I must have been 13 or 14 maybe). The four redheads on the sofa are my mum and her three sisters. And surrounding them are their children and husbands (and Ted, the dog). There are more children and grandchildren now, though all the husbands are ex-husbands (and late on top of that, in my dad’s case), which is kind of weird I think, though perhaps these women are particularly hard to live with!

It was a wonderful Christmas, full of family, good food, and a big barrel of beer. It was a bit strange having to do blend in with others’ traditions (we had to go to church on Christmas morning – what’s that all about), but comforting to be with such familiar people at the same time.

Anyway, we’re not religious, but we do celebrate Christmas and this photo really epitomises what Christmas is to me – a celebration of family. This Christmas, we’ll be up in Scotland with Chris’ parents, having a bigger celebration than usual, with family visiting from Down Under. Hopefully it will be as much fun as my last big family Christmas.