GLAD TIDINGS...

... it's very, very nearly Christmas!  Over the last 35 years it seems that we Irvines have established our own traditions and it’s a constant source of amazement and joy to me that all five (and now six) of us love to observe them and make huge efforts to come together at significant moments.  To which end we will all be here from 24th-27th December this year, despite having in our number two army officers and one professional rugby player, all of whom have work diaries of mind-boggling complexity.  Sadly we no longer all fit in our super king size bed to open stockings, but we have adjusted as people have grown and we do still all manage to be in, on or around it.  Properly gone – sadly – are the early morning sleeping-bag races down the front stairs, and the positioning of a mince pie, a carrot and a partly emptied glass of port on the hearth now feels a bit silly.  But brunch, church, late lunch and presents along the way all persist, and it’s lovely, and we love it.   Nobody is allowed to talk work, and even if it isn’t snowy we dress as if it was, and everybody HAS to wear the annoying, slightly itchy cracker crown – even me, and I have the biggest head in the country, so it always tears.  (A great relief.)  However you choose to spend the day I hope it’s a very happy time spent doing it your own way, and that you have around you all those who matter the most.  Love to you all – and whatever your faith, or none, a very, very happy Christmas!