Happy Easter.

Posted by Tania Kindersley.

Cooked lunch at my sister's house for eighteen relations, from four months to seventy-something years old. There was a huge amount of family sweetness.

Sample conversation:

Very small blonde person, extremely seriously:

'I had chocolate.'

Me:

'You did?'

VSBP:

'Because it's CHRISTMAS.'

Me, to her mother:

'She really doesn't know if it's Christmas or Easter.'

I made: medallions of pork in lemon and basil sauce; new potatoes with butter; slow roast tomatoes with garlic and basil; slender baked strips of aubergine and courgettes; tiny green peas with olive oil, mint and crumbled feta cheese; roasted sweet potatoes and carrots; and green and cannellini beans dressed with olive oil, lemon juice and a hint of crushed garlic, and which I must admit is Sarah's special recipe. I was beautifully assisted by my younger niece, who appointed herself to the job, because, as she explained to everyone else, she is the only one who knows not to take it personally when I SHOUT in the kitchen. It is just the perfectionist genie getting the better of me.

Before:

 

 

After:

Then I drank several glasses of white wine to recover and admired my mother's excessively elegant silk shirt, in a huge swirling paisley pattern that reminded me of Marrakesh in the 1970s.

When I got home, I found that my dear friend Sophie, who lives all the way out on the west coast of America, had sent me a picture of the hot cross buns she made with her own bare hands. I was so impressed I stared at it for some minutes in heartfelt admiration.

Now I am sitting quietly in my room, while the dogs slumber on the sofa, and the dying light comes in through the Venetian blinds:

It was a lovely day. I'm not generally one of those people who gets misty-eyed and sentimental about families. I can be quite shockingly cynical about the whole shooting match, when the mood takes me. We, like all families, have our fights and irritations and misunderstandings. But today harmony fell on everyone, and it was very touching to see all the generations together, and I felt glad and lucky.

I hope you all have a very, very happy Easter.