DailyEdge.ie DailyEdge.ie

BY NOW, MOST people are steeling themselves for a few days at home with the family. Christmas can get fraught, and most people will be looking for a way of getting things off their chest. Well – here’s a place for doing just that.

Former head of RTÉ TV Helen O’Rahilly has returned home from London for Christmas and to keep herself sane, has taken to livetweeting her 88-year-old mother’s sayings with the hashtag #irishfamilychristmas.

It’s classic Irish Mammy stuff. You will relate.

The obsession with The Heating

The endearing cluelessness

The insistence on keeping up appearances in front of the parish priest

The standard ‘Don’t get me any presents’ plea

And the many, many attempts to guilt you

O’Rahilly has invited returning emigrants to follow the hashtag #irishfamilychristmas and share their stories.

But she acknowledges that while her mam may be an octogenarian, she’s still afraid of getting rumbled:

Evil snowman terrorises shoppers in cruel Christmas prank>

Lad wakes up his roommate mid-slumber and scares the utter bejaysus out of him>