Christmas Fun
Well, for Christmas Eve we headed down with Patrick and Sarah (two friends from here) to Cork for the night to hang out with Norah (another good UL friend) and friends of hers. So here we are having a fabulous dinner on Christmas Eve. The first picture is our toast. This is Patrick, Blayne, Jeanne, Norah, Brian, and Sarah. I really was actually there, I'm just the one taking all the pictures. I can't tell you how much fun we had. The next shot is Jeanne and Django laughing hysterically, which sums up the whole evening.
Our plan was just to head down for the night and head back up to Limerick around 1ish. It became apparent that this plan was going to put a damper on the night and Brian and Jeanne (our hosts) invited us to crash there. So, we settled in for the night and just enjoyed the ride. It was a lively party at the house, then we headed out to a pub to hear a folk musician that Jeanne is friend's with. No pics of that, I'm afraid, but let me just say that all the Irish folks packed into that pub was festive, but strange. I was thinking, is this their Christmas Eve tradition? But, the music was fun and we danced (not Blayne, of course) and laughed and had Guinness. We left the pub and went back to the house for an incredible session, pictured here. 
The music was so lively and fun! The folk musician from the pub and a few of his friends stopped over for a few hours and while they mostly kept to the sitting room and we were in the dining room, they came over to our room to exchange a few tunes with us. Musically it was such an incredible night and the wine, music and laughter kept flowing. The music kept on til 4 am when Blayne and I finally decided we were done for the night. Then Patrick and Django kept on playing for another hour or so, just the two of them. So, as we drifted off to sleep we could hear the distant sounds of the flute and fiddle playing trad tunes.
We woke the next day to find that Santa Norah had visited Brian & Jeanne. Santa hadn't expected us to be there, so we had to wait to get home to see what he'd brought us. This pic in front of the fire is of our hosts discovering their stockings by the fire. Sarah and Jeanne are pictured here next in the "early" (almost noon) Christmas morning shot. We were all a bit out of it at this point, sleepy but happy. Norah is displaying here the delicious breakfast she made for us... eggs ole! And we stuffed our faces, and headed home.
Once home, we opened our gifts, took a nap, then got up and took a walk by the river. Patrick came over for Chrismas Dinner and bit later Sarah came over and made a delicious apple pie (pictured here with the tree and the menorah). Sarah's Jewish and since Hanukah started at sundown on Christmas Night she brought her menorah and lit the first candles. Then she sang us Hanukah songs. It was lots of fun. Then we played more tunes... this time Sarah and I swapped some folk songs, so it wasn't all Irish trad tunes. It was a strange Christmas, but it was festive and fun and we were so thankful to have friends to share it with. Hope that you all had a wonderful time with family and friends. Love and miss you!
Our plan was just to head down for the night and head back up to Limerick around 1ish. It became apparent that this plan was going to put a damper on the night and Brian and Jeanne (our hosts) invited us to crash there. So, we settled in for the night and just enjoyed the ride. It was a lively party at the house, then we headed out to a pub to hear a folk musician that Jeanne is friend's with. No pics of that, I'm afraid, but let me just say that all the Irish folks packed into that pub was festive, but strange. I was thinking, is this their Christmas Eve tradition? But, the music was fun and we danced (not Blayne, of course) and laughed and had Guinness. We left the pub and went back to the house for an incredible session, pictured here. 
The music was so lively and fun! The folk musician from the pub and a few of his friends stopped over for a few hours and while they mostly kept to the sitting room and we were in the dining room, they came over to our room to exchange a few tunes with us. Musically it was such an incredible night and the wine, music and laughter kept flowing. The music kept on til 4 am when Blayne and I finally decided we were done for the night. Then Patrick and Django kept on playing for another hour or so, just the two of them. So, as we drifted off to sleep we could hear the distant sounds of the flute and fiddle playing trad tunes. 
We woke the next day to find that Santa Norah had visited Brian & Jeanne. Santa hadn't expected us to be there, so we had to wait to get home to see what he'd brought us. This pic in front of the fire is of our hosts discovering their stockings by the fire. Sarah and Jeanne are pictured here next in the "early" (almost noon) Christmas morning shot. We were all a bit out of it at this point, sleepy but happy. Norah is displaying here the delicious breakfast she made for us... eggs ole! And we stuffed our faces, and headed home.
Once home, we opened our gifts, took a nap, then got up and took a walk by the river. Patrick came over for Chrismas Dinner and bit later Sarah came over and made a delicious apple pie (pictured here with the tree and the menorah). Sarah's Jewish and since Hanukah started at sundown on Christmas Night she brought her menorah and lit the first candles. Then she sang us Hanukah songs. It was lots of fun. Then we played more tunes... this time Sarah and I swapped some folk songs, so it wasn't all Irish trad tunes. It was a strange Christmas, but it was festive and fun and we were so thankful to have friends to share it with. Hope that you all had a wonderful time with family and friends. Love and miss you!
posted by debchastain at 5:28 AM
2 Comments:
Merry Christmas, Chastains! We missed you here, but it looks like you had a fabulous time.
Enjoy your travels! Can't wait to see more pics.
Love,
Sara
Miss you guys. Shane
Post a Comment
<< Home