Christmas Season, 2007

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND A JOYOUS AND PEACEFUL 2008! HOPE YOUR 2008 INCLUDES A VISIT TO BEAUTIFUL COUNTY KERRY!

We had a very nice round of dinners and parties to keep us happy and connected during the holiday season. I started out with a meeting of Links, my church women's group, with mulled wine and mince pies. These are the very traditional Christmas treats here, though I'm told they are imported ideas from the years of British rule.

Christmas morning was low key but nice. Note both the snow baby collection, finally displayed here (that's why you're seeing both of these pics) and my favorite new hat - a pink (not usually a big color with me, but I love this one for some reason) Razorback hat courtesy of Sid and Sherry. Dana says it can't be official since it is pink, not red, but it was bought at a basketball game, so couldn't have better credentials!.

On Christmas night, Dana cooked us our own personal feast - see pictures in our kitchen of him cooking and of our festive table! Note the Muckross pottery serving dishes, which we love.








On St. Stephen's Day (or Wren Day) which is what we call December 26 (not Boxing Day, as in UK) we went to Gerard and Dominique's. Dominique's sister, brother in law, and 2 nieces were visiting from Corsica. Of course, Yann and Lucca were there and in good form, loving all the attention from the extra people! Dana cooked us his traditional holiday feast - turkey, stuffing, gravy mashed potatoes, green beans almondine, sweet potatoes, sweet potato biscuits, raspberry cheese cake and Strawberry Bavarian Creme - it was wonderful. He had done some cooking at our house on Christmas Day, but their kitchen worked very well - bigger oven, separate freezer, etc. Also, nice for the kids to be in their own house, and nice for my being really lazy and not much help - Gerard did most of the assistance! You see him here working on the potatoes, Dana making the biscuits (which we did have to explain, as biscuits here are cookies!) The photos are all by MFE except the group at the table, which was taken by Deanne, Dominique's niece.

Then on December 30 we went to Glenbeigh for dinner at Pat and Kevin's gorgeous house overlooking the bay. Unfortunately, no pics of this day. We had a really wonderful time. Most members of their family were in and out with busy activities - the most important of which was Muireann going off to the hospital to deliver her 3rd baby - she and her husband left just before we arrived, so we probably passed them on the road. Still there were their 2 kids, Rian (4) and Seodhla (pronounced Shola) (17 mo) - both great kids, but Seodhla really won our hearts - she smiles all the time! Cathal and his 3 older brothers were off to a soccer match, so we only had brief glimpses. Cliona, who is now teaching in Pat's old classroom, had lunch with us. Blanaid had already gone back to Germany. They apologized for all the action, but we loved it and had a delicious dinner and great conversation.

On December 31, we had shrimp cocktail at home, then went to dinner at the Meadowlands (across the street, thanks Mary & Ed). Had a nice dinner - they were geared up for big celebration later in the evening, but we didn't stay. Came home and celebrated with our champagne on Russian time (10:00 our time) - then surprisingly actually were still awake at our midnight so had to make do with a wine toast!

New Year's Day was just a day of rest - no football, though we followed scores on internet. Arkansas was a big disappointment, OSU a wonderful surprise, and OU - what can we say - sorry Sooners. We did have our traditional ham, cornbread, black eyed peas (salad, and also lentils, as we couldn't find dried or canned peas), and fried apples. This is one meal I cook and Dana tolerates once a year - taking no chances on good luck this year!