Happy Christmas from Ireland!

                                             

 This year I celebrated my very first Christmas away from home! Unlike most of the other au pairs, it was just far too expensive (and far!) for me to fly home for Christmas, so I opted to stay here and celebrate as part of the Gorman family! That meant helping find the perfect Christmas tree down in Calverstown square, decorating the house for Christmas, hanging stockings, and sharing lots and lots of my own Christmas traditions and stories with the family - like the 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' poem (or A Visit from Saint Nicholas) by Clement Clarke Moore and this adorable old cartoon that I grew up watching every Christmas with my sisters!

Mulled wine is Christmas in a glass.

Anny had the best idea for getting the kids into bed Christmas Eve...we told the kiddies that the Sandman acts as Santa's helper on Christmas Eve and travels around to all the houses, where he rings a bell to alert all the little children that it's time to go to bed so Santa can come leave presents. And guess who got to be the sandman??

That's right, while the kids were slipping into their pj's and brushing their teeth, I crept outside till I was underneath the bathroom windows and shook a huge golden bell till I thought my arm was gonna fall off! Totally worth it though - I could hear the gasps and mad scrambles from the other side of the window. And it worked like a charm! Patrick and Lily almost never sleep through the night, but they both slept in their own beds all night.                                             

Lily on the Christmas train at the Kildare Christmas Village.

My new Irish boyfriend.

Anny and I also found time to bake loads of Christmas cookies for the neighbors (most of whom are Padraig's aunts and uncles) and go to Padraig's work Christmas party with the kids. 

Making Christmas cookies!

Christmas morning!

James is more concerned with the paper than what's inside it.

Christmas morning was everything I hoped it would be for the kids. Patrick and Lily are just getting to the ages when Christmas is really exciting for them (especially Pat, I think it's all he talked about after Halloween) and we tried to make sure they got the best experiences out of it all, like seeing Santa at the Kildare Christmas Village and sitting on his lap, visiting all the family and neighbors to drop off cookies (and stop in for tea and Christmas cake), and of course, watching The Snowman and the Gruffalo!

Curracloe Beach!

 We spent Christmas day with Anny's side of the family, which was lovely - Anny's brother Jim prepared what can only be described as a feast, and even though they're all strict veggies, they made roast beef! I loved it, naturally, and Padraig and Anny's brother Brian seemed to really enjoy themselves as well.

Gorgeous New Years Eve.

St. Stephen's Day (or Boxing Day in the UK) was then spent back at home with Padraig's side of the family and I made an adorable funfetti birthday cake with green and blue icing for Padraig's nephew Jack, who turned 4 on Christmas Day. We ate tons more food, opened gifts (they all got me something, which I was not expecting at all!) and drank LOADS and LOADS of wine. Apparently St. Stephen's Day is supposed to be filled with drunkenness.

New Years Eve was much more relaxed, with a stroll on Curracloe Beach and an attempted picnic, which actually got rained out. But the beach was beautiful (albeit a bit chilly) and it was nice to get out of the house. We celebrated at midnight with glasses of champagne and a really intense game of scrabble.

All in all, a fabulous holiday season :)