let it snow let it snow let it snow....

It has to snow this year!It would make my christmas...would it make yours?

I think snow is on everyone wishlist when it comes to Christmas.

So we can wrap up warm in our hats and scarfs!!

Making snow men!!

And enjoying snowball fights, ahhh!!

If only snow in Ireland is so uncommon although we have experienced some really crazy weather this year so I guess we will just have to wait and see!!



I would ove to wake up on Christmas morning to a blanket of snow outside my window it would make my Christmas perfect!!

Decorations

Over the years the trend of decorations has changed greatly!!
People have gone from having real fure trees cut down somewhere near by and plain reaths on their doors to now having 2 or 3 christmas trees, extravicant lights all over the house and santa statues the size of themselfs.

The bigger the better, the dearer the posher!
I think its all about "keeping up with the joanes"

People are spending more and more on decorations every year to make their house look like a santas groto!In my opinion a think most houses are begining to look so tacky!!!!

We even have christmas shops know..
I think its getting out of hand!!!!

New york, New york!!!!!!

This Christmas even more people are jetting of to the fabulous New York City, to shop for Christmas. This is not a new trend but recently it has grown ever more popular.
With cheaper flights and the rate of the dollar to the euro being so good, why not!!

*Check out the convert of euro to dollar at http://www.gocurrency.com/sample.html*

Planning that perfect trip,
As traveling to New York as become so popular I decided to research how to make the most out of your trip as the average holiday goer only has a few days to really explore and make the most of this Christmas get away.

First of all you should definitely check out
http://gonyc.about.com/od/planyourtriptonyc/a/December.htm

This website tells you what to expect from the weather, what to wear,
gives you you exciting this to do like ice-skating and visiting 5th avenue...
Where to eat and where to shop.
It gives you all the relevant links within the site.

Mass, the tradition!!

Mass on Christmas morning.
I go to mass with my parents on the 25Th of December

at 11am in Rolestown Church, I have done

since i was two years old

(I was living in New york when I was one, and went to mass there)
We always go no matter what, but why? I no i am

not the only person that doesn't go to Mass all year round but 'HAS' to go on Christmas morning. And if i didn't go I no I would feel so guilty, even though I have never once felt guilty for not going to Mass on a regular Sunday.
In the past ALL catholic families in Ireland would have went to mass on Christmas morning (not to mention every other Sunday) and a lot of families would have also gone to Mass on Christmas eve.
In more recent times people have started to just go to Mass on Christmas eve rather than Christmas morning, as they don't have enough "time" on Christmas day.

But why do we bother at all, why do we feel the need to got to Mass at Christmas.

I must admit i do actually enjoy Mass on Christmas day, the carol singing, looking at the crib etc.. but as a child i hated it all i wanted to do was stay at home and play with my toys and munch on bars from my selection boxes. It was so annoying being forced to leave your toys and get showered and into your 'new' Christmas clothes, but i think i hated it so much because the reason for why we go to Mass on Christmas day was not stressed enough. Christmas day is now focused on presents, the perfect roast dinner and Christmas cake, having beautiful decorations etc...

Has the real point of Christmas been lost?I think so...

Santa Claus

Santa, Saint Nick, Poppa Noel..
The man has many names but all over the world his job is the same.
He is the greastest man in the world to most children, he is the man that calls once a year when every ones asleep to leave presents (the exact one that was on the child's list in most cases) under the tree or beside the fire place.
He is a legend, all in all!
I grew up believing in Santa.
I went to see "Santa's helpers" in many a shopping center and at many a Christmas party.
I was even lucky enough to visit the long bearded man at home in Lapland, not to mention the fact that he appears on many adds all around christmas...
His most famous add being the 'Coca Cola' add

And i enjoyed all the magic that revolves around "Santa"
But now as an 18year old who yes still love everything about Christmas, I have begun to wonder is the word SANTA being abused??

Parents are forced to Que for hours and pay up to €25 to see one of "Santa's helpers" in shopping centers all over Ireland..kids spend less than 5 minutes with a man dressed in red with a beard telling him what they WANT and then they get their picture taken (which they have no appreciation for) and get some small and more than likely gift that they will not use after that day!

Or what about the parents who pay to go to Lapland?
It costs up to € 429 for one person to visit Lapland for the day
Visit this site to see more http://www.falconholidays.ie/lapland/

Gone are the days of kids writing a letter to Santa asking for a "surprise" and telling him you would leave him some cake and a carrot for Rduolph for Christmas..

Kids now write a list that contains bullet points for each gift and is it good enough to simply leave your letter beside the fire place any more??

Is Santa's name being abused by department stores and the majority of towns in the north pole (since you can visit Santas "REAL" home and toy factory in various locations) to earn a large profit from parents trying to please their children?

I think the true magic of Santa is being lost, Santa has become so commerical, he is a product, rather than just he magical man that climbs down your chimney on Christmas eve!!!!

Christmas cake and pudding......

What is Christmas cake my grandmother says that you cant buy a proper Christmas cake, as it has to have the traditional ingredients and look!
So i searched the net to find out what is the definition of a Christmas cake
check this out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_cake%20-%2031k


Christmas cake, i really wanted to just get this out, in November my Mam bought the ingredients for the Christmas cake and pudding.
Costing her a grand total of about 40euro for everything including the plate thing for the cake sits on and the bowls for the pudding.
It took her a whole evening to prepare both the mixtures and then she had to leave them over night the next day she had to cook them for AGES.. i mean they were in the oven for hours. After they were finally cooked she took them out and began rapping them in layers and layers of grease proof paper, stressing that if she didn't wrap them enough they wouldn't taste nice. a week or so before Christmas shell take them out of the press unwrap the many layers of grease-proof paper and then begin the artistic task of icing and decorating the cake, now this is the most time consuming part i have seen my mam work on the icing and decorating for 3 days making sure its perfect. I must admit the cake always looks brilliant, but the only thing is no one really ever eats it. I don't, my brother doesn't and funnily enough my mother doesn't even like it. Its my poor father who gets it for desert at bought dinner time and lunch time from Christmas till new years daily!
So why bother???
It takes up so much time, would it not be easier to join in with the majority of people who just buy their cakes and puddings?

I would love to find out how many households still endure in this festive task.

I also wanted to find out for myself what are the ingredients to a traditional Irish Christmas cake here's the results:

1 lb sultanas
1/2 lb raisins
1/2 lb currants
4 oz glacé [candied] cherries, halved or whole, not chopped.
2 oz mixed candied peel, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground mixed spice [pudding spice]
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essense
grated zest & juice of 1 lemon
grated zest & juice of 1 orange
1 apple, finely grated
3 oz slivered almonds
2 oz ground almonds
1 tablespoon treacle or Golden syrup
4 tablespoons Irish Whiskey
10 oz Irish butter
8 oz soft brown sugar
5 eggs
10 oz plain [all-purpose] flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Wow who new there was so many???

To find out more about making the cake check out:http://http//www.dochara.com/eat/traditional/christmas-cake.php

ENJOY

Christmas number ones!!!!

Hmmm

I wonder what song will be number one in our charts this Christmas?? The X-factor is on at the moment and for the past two years the winners from the show have made that number one spot,I'm not sure if any of the acts this year deserve the number one spot but that's a whole different topic.
I done some research on the number one Christmas hits over the last 30-40 years and the results were interesting. Its funny how the style of song have changed the number one hits over the last few years weren't even "christmasy"...

Check out the results
http://www.pubquizhelp.34sp.com/christmas/no1.html

'Top of the Pops' was also a "must watch" in my house on Christmas day. We loved finding out who reached that number one spot and I'm sure this was tradition in alot of households but i think the excitement has gone and the younger generation don't really care alot about who's made it to number one, their way to busy playing with their overpriced lavished gifts.

This is my all time favouritte Christmas number one: