There’d been a bit of a skirmish before things got underway when the O’Reilly sisters, both spinsters for obvious reasons, tried to squeeze in alongside Patrick. There’d only been enough room for one and the older of the two sisters, Elsie, had fallen into the aisle. She’d been helped up by Mr Kelly, recently widowed, and had been appeased when he patted the seat to suggest she squish in alongside him.
Sitting in the living room now, waiting for Mammy to dole out the cake as the old grandfather clock ticked that time was marching on, Roisin could hear the odd car horn as people full of the festive spirit made their way home from the church service. The church bells that had rung out through the city earlier were silent now and she guessed all across the country children would be fighting to stay awake in order to hear Santa’s reindeer on the roof. The family had walked the short distance home from St Teresa’s, their breath hanging like crystals in the air. They’d filed out of the church to calls of Merry Christmas to be greeted by a magical scene. The city had been dusted in an icing sugar snow sprinkle during the service. It had seen Mammy exclaim, ‘The geese are being plucked in heaven tonight, so they are.’
‘Here we are, one for you and one for you. No, Pooh, back to bed, chocolate and cake isn’t good for you.’ Roisin didn’t like to say that it wasn’t good for them either. Mammy began passing out the cake and true to her word it was loaded with the pungent anise flavoured seeds. Roisin settled Noah, whose eyes, despite his valiant efforts at staying awake long enough for hot chocolate and cake, were drooping next to her. She’d get Pat to carry him to bed because he’d be sound asleep in a minute or two. Taking the mug Quinn offered her and cupping it with both hands, the serviette on her lap with her half-eaten seed cake, she looked at her brothers and sisters and smiled. It was going to be a lovely, Christmas here at home all together, so it was.
Chapter 27
Roisin woke up to feel a warm hand tapping her on the side of her face. Her eyes fluttered reluctantly open just enough to see, unsurprisingly, that Noah was the culprit. Through her sleepy fog it dawned on her it was Christmas morning and she forced her eyes open properly, blinking several times. The ability of children to be wide awake the moment they opened their eyes amazed her once more as he began performing trampoline style bounces on the bed.
‘Noah, you’ll break the bed.’
‘I’m making sure you’re awake.’
‘I’m awake. Merry Christmas, sweetheart.’
‘Yay for Christmas!’ He fist-bumped the air and Roisin smiled at his enthusiasm before cocking an ear. The house was silent. She glanced over at the bedside clock, it was eight am. It was nothing short of a miracle that Noah had slept this late and she tossed the covers aside as she remembered last year’s obscene five thirty start. It was definitely time to get up, there was a lot to be done between now and four o’clock when their guests arrived for Christmas dinner. She knotted her dressing gown and followed her son’s lead to the living room, where the first thing he did was race into the kitchen to check Santa had drunk the bottle of Guinness they’d left out for him. ‘It’s gone, Mum.’
‘Thirsty work delivering all those presents.’ She was guessing Patrick would have slept soundly after knocking that back.
At the word presents, Noah raced over to the tree to check his stocking. ‘Mum, it’s very heavy!’ She flicked the kettle on and looked over in time to see him dragging it to the middle of the living room floor. Pooh bounced over to see what he was up to and, remembering his little friend, Noah dropped the stocking, ran to the fridge and retrieved a lettuce leaf which he gave to Mr Nibbles. ‘You’re doing a good job looking after him, Noah,’ Roisin said, heaping a teaspoon of coffee into a mug and dropping the spoon with a clatter as she felt a snuffling where nobody should be snuffling at this time of the morning. ‘Get away with you.’ The dog looked thoroughly dejected and she spied the empty bowl on the newspaper near the pantry. ‘Ah well, it is Christmas morning I suppose.’ Holding her nose she lopped him off a slice of the meaty roll in the fridge and gave him a scoop of the dried food sitting on the corner of the bench. There that should keep him otherwise occupied for the time being. She made a pot of tea too, deciding it was time everyone was up because she couldn’t possibly be expected to contain Noah from ripping into his stocking while they waited for everyone to rise and shine. ‘Noah, go and knock on the bedroom doors and tell them all Father Christmas has been.’
AN HOUR LATER THE LIVING room looked like a bomb had gone off with wrapping paper strewn everywhere.
