Christmas Break

In a few hours I will heading back to London, ending my fortnight holiday in Dublin over Christmas.

It has being great being home. It has being great getting a break from work and completely winding down and relaxing.

So this is my break in a lengthy post that will largely mean nothing to most of you. But this is my box and I'm standing on it to talk about my experiences. And I am really looking forward to getting back to London, not because I've not had a great time here but because I miss Rachel. And I've not seen her since early on the 24th.

So here's how my Christmas break went.

Went to mass Christmas Eve, and it was nice to see Alfie. Slightly distressing to see him ill, but I continue to pray that he has the strength to fight the cancer.
Christmas with the family was amazing. Mother was in great spirits, we had 8 for dinner. Brother (Peter), two sisters (Fiona & Claire), Aunt Viv, brother in law (Denis), niece (Kate) and of course Mam and myself. Big feed as expected and we had fun throughout the day. Presents were exchanged in the afternoon, and it was great seeing Kate opening her presents and genuinely enjoying them. Especially the princess stuff myself and Rachel bought her. We also gave her a teddy of Mike Wazowski. I have a photo of Kate putting Mike in buggy that Claire gave her. She was gorgeous dressed as a princess herself, Belle I understand. Very confident that my brother also appreciated his present as he had most of it read by the end of Stephens Day. We gave him graphic of Strontium Dogs from 2000AD. Everyone stayed throughout Christmas day and we played Wii sports in the evening into the wee hours. First time playing Wii and it was great fun, we played a lot of bowling and everyone had fun. Nearly was still around Stephens Day, bro headed out early to go and win a hill running race. Aunt headed off to watch horse racing. But everyone was back in the evening and we played some cards.

So Christmas was great, all family time, saw a lot of Kate and that is always lovely. And seeing her really enjoy our presents. She slept both nights with Mike. FTW. But I suppose, its not a competition, but still nice to see your gifts really appreciated by a 4 yr old.

Being home was also an opportunity to see friends. First night back, Rachel came up from Limerick to see me and we went out and met friends for a few pints. Ellen, Chewie, Gretchin and Oisin were there. After Stephens Day, as the family were starting to make tracks and remember where they live, my old school friend John Kealy came up for tea and a lengthy chat. It was great catching up with John, because he is the one person outside my family that I've known the longest. I love talking with John and hearing how his research is coming along. The man will cure something big. I met up with Ellen for coffee one afternoon, spent a couple of hours in town with her, brought some books courtesy of vouchers, before heading home to chill with Mother. The following day, Ellen and Peter had me around to their new place for dinner. Brian's first Carbonara courtesy of Peter, really nice meal thank you. Before joining up with Peter & Ellen, I met up with John Colgan, we went shopping in Carrickmines Park and Kildare Town retail outlet. Picked up nice shirt, as well as some make warm from North Face. Also got to meet John's girlfriend for the first time. I've heard so much about Astrid so it was nice to finally meet the lady that is making my friend so happy. For New Years it was great to meet up with a lot of people that I've not seen since pretty much college. The guys I met up with in the pub whilst first back, were all there (apart from my lovely Rachel), party hosted by Peter & Ellen in their new place. It meant a lot meeting up with George, first time seeing him since he moved back to Dublin from London this year. Also Ben who lives in the US whilst studying at Stanford, not a lot of opportunities to see people from out of Europe. There were countless others at the party, I believe the count attending was 27. Also met up with Angela for coffee in town as well for a few hours before heading to the rugby at the RDS. Not a great game but right result, met up with John Colgan again afterwards, collected by his delightful girlfriend and we headed over to the usual crew meeting in the old haunt, Uncle Toms Cabin. Never guess who was there.
Only person that I would have really liked to have met up that I missed was David Morrison.

Also done whilst back.
Fiona collected me with her husband and lovely daughter and we went down to godmother Aunt Lise and Fiona's godfather Uncle Tony. It was lovely seeing them and just talking for a few hours. They have visited China on holiday this year, as well as Russia for work (Uncle Tony lecturing), and they are currently on their way to India for work as well.
On the way back into Dublin, I was dropped off at the Square to bring Kate to the cinema. It was lovely taking her out. We went to Madagascar 2, its quite a good movie and Kate is a little angel. Letting me know that is okay, no need to be scared at this point and that point during the movie. And afterwards asking for Fruit Bag and OJ with her nuggets. Oh so cute. Oh so trained.
Also went to Wolfe Tones gig in Taylors Three Rock with Denis and his brothers and cousins. One of the Wolfe Tones is Denis' uncle. Really enjoyed the gig, first time I've ever seen the Wolfe Tones and heard most of their stuff. Its very patriotic stuff and rousing stuff.
As I mentioned above in the friends section, I was the Leinster Connaught game at the RDS. Not a stellar game, but always enjoyable being at live rugby and I was real close to the action. And the right team won, so a very enjoyable evening. Watched the away game up in Belfast on Stephens Day with my brother at his local with his friend John. Again a very enjoyable experience mainly because Leinster got the win over Ulster and are now looking decent again in the league. Got a text from Rachel over the break saying that we should go to more rugby this year, that was an extra little Christmas present that, so hopefully will get along to plenty of rugby this year either down at London Irish or Harlequins I would think.

2008 ended very well and 2009 has also started very well. Thank you Mam for a great break. Thanks to Fiona for all the time I got to spend with you guys especially your angel. And thanks to Ellen & Peter as well both for their New Years party as well as their patience in entertaining me over the break when I wasn't with family.