It’s the best time of the year
A Primary School Christmas from Long Ago I attended primary school between 1957 and 1963 at Scoil Mhuire CBS in Marino. It was a tough and sometimes cruel regime. We dreaded the Christmas [...]
May your days be merry and bright
West Cork Christmas of the 60’s Was Christmas better in the old days. Was there more mystery and magic to it? Was everything more innocent and more memorable? All this runs like a river [...]
Strike the harp and join the chorus
Deck the Floors Even now I love a DIY project. A large part of my retirement has been taken up with projects of various sorts. I get into a zone when I engage in a plumbing, electrical, [...]
Bring us some figgy pudding
“It’s the Little Things That Knock Us Sideways” So there I was, rummaging “The Drawer that Stores Everything”; you know the one, bet you’ve got one too; when a folded single page of a [...]
The stars in the sky Look down where He lay
Baby Jesus I was about 12 at the time. It was a few days before Christmas, I was visiting the church where they had a crib. I was worried about the Baby Jesus. I couldn’t believe it was out [...]
For years now it’s been bringing him back Milk and cookies
The Milkman’s Christmas I never had a Christmas morning to myself when I started work; I was working every Christmas day. I started work at the dairy at fourteen, in 1960, and I left it [...]
A star, a star, dancing in the night
The Church was a mile away from us on a dark country road. I remember going to Midnight Mass with Daddy, Mammy and the rest of the family. We had torches. The Church had no heating and was very [...]
Later we’ll have some pumpkin pie
Ham straws for Christmas These days I love to cook, but it wasn’t always so. Coming as I did towards the end of the family I managed to avoid any cooking lessons at home as there were two older [...]
Please have snow and mistletoe And presents on the tree
The Queen Mary sewing box It was 1938, I was ten years old, so if you count that out you will know that I am 90. I was ten years old and when it came to Christmas, we had to write our [...]
You better watch out
The Christmas I nearly saw Santy After waking, I lay in my warm bed for a minute – then sat up with a jolt – it was Christmas Day. I forgot about dressing gown and slippers and ran [...]