Woo Christmas!

Christmas away from the family is a first for me. Christmas away from home is a completely different story. My family is nearly always on the road or in the air around Christmas. It's always somewhere new, so when people ask me what the holidays are usually like I have a hard time answering. This year I participated in another family's tradition, which was fun, but it didn't have quite the same feel about it. I haven't even had one glass of egg nog...yet.

Yesterday I woke up to find pillow cases full of present for me and Keith outside of our room. Apparently that's how Santa rolls here. After opening presents I insisted on making eggs benedict. My dad would be pleased to know that the Hollandaise turned out perfectly. Then we went over to Keith's younger sister's home to have Christmas dinner (turkey, ham, mashed and roasted potatoes, stuffing, veggies, with plum pudding and brandy butter for dessert). Then presents were handed out, with everyone watching as they were opened one at a time. Pretty different from the usual free-for-all in the Allsopp family and rather time consuming. Keith and I got passes to all of the historic sites in Ireland and I got a cookbook and some cute little gifties from Rachelle's children. Afterward I played Wii with the new nieces and nephew, which is when I realized that no matter how much I enjoy Mario Kart, I will probably never be good at it.

Today is St. Stephen's Day. Usually everyone goes to the horse races, but this year they were cancelled due to the snow. As a result today will just be another day full of food, wine, and family-in-law. They have all been so nice and very generous to me, so I can absolutely handle another family gathering. I am, however looking forward to getting out and using those historic site passes. Overall, the highlight of today was remembering to open the present my parents gave me before I left for Ireland. Thanks parents!

Snow

When I first arrived in Dublin there was about an inch of snow on the ground. The captain told us the airport was closed due to heavy snow, but that crews were out clearing the runway.We circled the airport for about half an hour before landing. The whole thing seemed rather pathetic having survived 70+ inches of snow last winter in Maryland. Everyone here assured me that it hardly ever snows in Ireland and if it does snow, it melts within a day. Well, here I am a few weeks later in the midst of a 6 inch snowstorm and I am thoroughly convinced of what those people told me. Ireland has no idea how to handle snow. This is unfortunate because I love snow and it kind of ruins it to hear people complaining about the impending white Christmas. There is nothing wrong with snow, but not owning a shovel doesn't really improve the situation. Dublin doesn't seem to own any snowplows or rock salt either. The roads are insane here. Today when I was out walking I just started wiping the snow off car headlights. After having a windshield smashed in frontof my face by snow flying off another car's roof last winter it kind of pisses me off to see people driving around without putting any effort into brushing off the car. Fortunately, we are within walking distance of shops and friends, so I can enjoy the snow without dealing with the roads.

Last week was snow-free, so Keith and I managed to visit his parents in Carlow. Keith's mother took us to the local health club for a swimand a sauna, which was a nice break from the social activities I've been engaging in lately. I think I was sweating out booze in the steam room. Aside from seeing the parents-in-law, the highlight of the trip was the gallery of "young Keith" photos in the house. My favorite was this display, which is just so telling. See those people with their Masters andDoctorates? Those are Keith's siblings. See that guy on the beach enjoying a big plate of food? Now that's my husband.

December in Dublin

I've been in Ireland for two weeks now, not including a three day trip to England. When I'm not out meeting in-laws and friends of Keith's I've been spending most of my time in Glengara. Glengara is the name of my sister-in-law and her partner's house, located in the Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dun Leary-- bet you wouldn't have guessed that!) section of Dublin. It's an old house with a warm kitchen and a drafty... everywhere else. In fact, as I write this Keith and Frank are frantically andsecretively caulking the windows before Catriona gets home. I'm not sure why they are afraid of her finding out, but I guess every family has its quirks. Anyway, it is a lovely and comfortable house in a good location for visiting the city and getting out to some nice walks in the countryside.

The kitchen table with a window seat that has views to the garden

Aga cookers seem to be very popular in Ireland. It's an oven that's always on, which helps warm the house and makes turning knobs and pre-heating a thing of the past! I don't really get why everyone loves them. I mean you can't set a specific temperature, so you actually have no idea how hot any of the various compartments are. I'm going to try baking a cake in it Monday, so we'll see what kind of issues I'll have then.

Puppy picture! You will be seeing a lot of these.