Nollaig Shona

As the Christmas season approaches I find myself getting anxious because I know I won't be able to see the most important people in my life this year. I am excited to experience the Irish traditions and to continue to build relationships here, but it is certainly tinged with sadness for the absence of the comforting familiarity of my loved ones back home.  I remember all the Christmas traditions and how they have evolved through the years to accommodate different phases of life.

This year will just be a new stage of the evolution into new traditions. Earlier in the month I attended a Christmas themed cookery demonstration, I attended the Spirit Radio Christmas dinner and today I got to watch two of the Mahony kids perform in their school Christmas plays. They attend an Irish school, which means they only speak Irish at school. The plays were performed in Irish and were very well done..as far as I could tell. ;)

Last week I recorded my first ad for the Radio station. I was on the air! It was really fun and a bit strange to hear myself.  Hopefully I will get the chance to do more recording for the station in the future.  Otherwise, my time has been filled with lots of administrative work for the Kairos weekend (coming up in February). I am looking forward to having a bit of time off for Christmas and New Year's. I hope you all have a blessed Christmas and know that I am missing you all back home.

Nollaig Shona!

(photo: Rachel and myself going to the Spirit Christmas dinner)