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‘I’m looking forward to being around family and not being as worried as we were last year’

My Christmas: Richard Chambers

Virgin Media news reporter Richard Chambers in the news room in Ballymount. Photograph: Marc O’Sullivan

Shilpa Ganatra's face
Shilpa Ganatra
Thu Dec 2 2021 - 00:00

How big are you going on Christmas this year?
My partner Louise and I are saving for a house so Christmas will be modest, but bigger than last year because everything was so limited. I'll be splitting my time between my family in Dublin and Louise in Clonakilty.

What decorations do you go for?
We're not really tinselly sort of people. Last year, we had a great time picking a real tree and throwing it up, so I think that's going to become a tradition for us.

Best and worst Christmas film
The best is It's a Wonderful Life for making me cry every single year despite being a cynic when I was first introduced to it. I watched it twice last Christmas. The worst is the Tim Allen one, The Santa Clause. He was popular when I was growing up but I never really warmed to him.

Best Christmas present?
I got loads of Power Rangers stuff when I was about six, and that made my Christmas. I always think about what my mum did to make sure that we had whatever the latest craze was.

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What's on your wish list?
Nothing, although I'll probably get a nice bottle of whiskey. What I'm really looking forward to this year is being back around family and hopefully not being as worried as we were last year.

Favourite part of the Christmas meal?
The Cork specialty of spiced beef. I didn't know what it was before I went to west Cork, but it's glorious. Louise's mum makes a spiced beef sandwich with mango chutney and it's phenomenal. We had it on Christmas day but there was mountains of it around, so you'd be living off it until mid-January. I became addicted.

What's the most irritating thing about Christmas?
Christmas shopping in busy Dublin is horrific. There's nothing worse than trudging through town in the lashing rain, having to wedge through people, with paper bags that are turning to mush in your hand. I was never a huge fan of that.

What's on your Christmas jumper?
Somebody bought me a Christmas sweater with the logo of the rap group Wu Tang Clan.

A State of Emergency: The Story of Ireland's Covid Crisis, by Richard Chambers, is published by HarperCollins Ireland

Christmas