My family is quite possibly certifiably insane. We used to go on holidays together on a boat in Franc
e, where we always had a series of random encounters that I usen't to question until someone (probably Ashy) pointed out that they are NOT NORMAL. Any sort of drama or accident seems to be attracted to my family. One year sibling and I got attacked by swans, two years ago my uncle fell ( or 'jumped' as he likes to claim) into the canal while attempting to rescue an aged Luxemberger who had fallen in from the bank. That same year we almost got crushed in the gates of a lock because my uncle decided that if we sped up we would make it (that was a more eventful year). They spent half of dinner reminiscing about their trip this year, and how not only was it amazing that my cousins girlfriend survived it she also agreed to marry him when he proposed recently, despite having been stuck with the family for a week. Naturally any time the boat was brought up baleful looks were shot in my direction, as sadly I had declined the offer of being trapped in a confined space with my extended family in the middle of nowhere in France in favour of dancing on bars in Sunny Beach, Bulgaria with my friends.
e, where we always had a series of random encounters that I usen't to question until someone (probably Ashy) pointed out that they are NOT NORMAL. Any sort of drama or accident seems to be attracted to my family. One year sibling and I got attacked by swans, two years ago my uncle fell ( or 'jumped' as he likes to claim) into the canal while attempting to rescue an aged Luxemberger who had fallen in from the bank. That same year we almost got crushed in the gates of a lock because my uncle decided that if we sped up we would make it (that was a more eventful year). They spent half of dinner reminiscing about their trip this year, and how not only was it amazing that my cousins girlfriend survived it she also agreed to marry him when he proposed recently, despite having been stuck with the family for a week. Naturally any time the boat was brought up baleful looks were shot in my direction, as sadly I had declined the offer of being trapped in a confined space with my extended family in the middle of nowhere in France in favour of dancing on bars in Sunny Beach, Bulgaria with my friends. 
The second half of dinner sent me into repressed flashback mode. My Uncle loves to wind up my Mum and Aunt, and generally does so through arguing with them about politics. A few years ago during the Nice treaty referendum things got so heated that my grandad is still terrified at the memory ('they turned on him like rabid dogs' is the exact phrase he used, I believe). So naturally about 3/4 of the way through dinner some absolute fool brings up the Lisbon treaty. ARE YOU KIDDING? My mother, aunt and cousin proceeded to spend the next 40 minutes having a huge debate with my Father and Uncle about it, which ended with my cousin not so subtley implying they were fascists. Funnily enough I had forgotten to revise all of European and Irish political history for christmas dinner, so sibling and I spent the entire thing rolling our eyes at each other and wondering if anyone would notice if we just left. Naturally my cousin HAD to point out to the entire table that I can now vote, and I think there may be some sort of power struggle over which side gets to indoctrinate me. I am slightly terrifed, and not impressed that he reminded them... some godfather he is! Thankfully sibling had enough and told the parents we were leaving whether or not they were in the car with us (it was like one in the morning at this stage) so they finally left, though they insisted on turning off Westlife's greatest hits in the car and instead we were forced to listen to my mother sing 'Jingle Bells' in a Jamaican accent when it came on Xmas FM. (Why a Jamaican accent? I don't know, and quite frankly I don't really want to either)
Christmas day was the usual, opened presents with the fam, went to mass for the first and only time this year, visited relations... My grandad didn't want to go to my Unlces house for Christmas dinner so my mom invited him and my aunt to ours, which meant that we had another Christmas dinner, one I am still full from. Sibling and I watched movies all evening afterwards, though we had to turn off Jason Byrne because we were laughing so hard we couldn't breathe (We are going to see him live in Feburary, so excited!). On Stephens Day I went to the races with the girls in Lepordstown, which was a laugh, even managed to win some money which was amusing! That night we went out for drinks in Temple Bar and got the nightlink home, Emma, Maeve and Rach walked me home because all three of them live beside each other whereas I would have had a fifteen minute walk home in the dark by myself, which was pretty nice of them!
Christmas is always good for hanging out with family and friends, though I will quite happily avoid some of the family for a while now as I am scared that I will have to listen to even more political propaganda... I'll see them AFTER the referendum...
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